CRITICAL by Robin Cook
Robin Cook is back with a new medical thriller. This one is titled CRITICAL and it once again involves two of his favorite characters Dr. Laurie Montgomery and Dr. Jack Stapleton. This married pair of New York City medical examiners has been front and center in several of Cook's previous novels. This time out the focus is on Laurie and her adventure in trying to track down a mysterious staph infection.
The basic plot of CRITICAL is that Jack has blown out his knee and is scheduled to have surgery to repair it. The surgery is to take place at a facility known as Angels Healthcare. Before the surgery takes place Laurie learns there have been some deaths related to Angels Healthcare which were caused by a particularly virulent form of a staph infection. She urges Jack to postpone his surgery but he is adamant that everything is going to be fine.
During this time Paul Yang, the chief accountant for Angels Healthcare, disappears. His body is found but is not readily identified. Police Detective Lou Soldano, who is a friend of Laurie and Jack's, is investigating this case. He thinks this might have been a mob hit and could be the start of a war between two "families" in New York.
As Laurie investigates the staph situation she becomes more and more convinced Jack should postpone the surgery and is trying to get all the information she can that might convince him to do so. The more she investigates the more she places herself in danger as there are people who do not want her to find out what is happening and why.
Robin Cook has cooked up an interesting premise for his story. There are murders galore and plenty of harrowing incidents. Still the book seems to move at a snail's pace. For most of the story it is a tale of Laurie identifying staph problems and then trying to get information from a variety of sources. This is not something that is particularly interesting to read about though it does play into the overall outcome of the story.
Jack and Laurie are not at their best in this book either. Jack's refusal to change his surgery date comes across as stupid. His wife is virtually begging him to postpone it and he is adamantly refusing. If they have any kind of relationship you would think her feelings would count for something.
The final chapters of CRITICAL almost make up for the slow pace of the earlier ones. Everything comes to a climax and the story does race to a conclusion. Still for the reader who has persisted in sticking with the story it is all too little too late. Cook lets his story simmer too long before bringing it to a boil.
No one writes medical thrillers like Robin Cook but this is one of his weaker efforts. The premise is interesting but the delivery is much too slow.
CRITICAL is published by G P Putnam's Sons. It contains 5457 pages and sells for $25.95.