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Shock

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Overview

Two graduate students decide to solve their financial problems by becoming egg donors at an exclusive, highly profitable fertility clinic on Boston's North Shore. But second thoughts and curiosity prompt the two women to find out more about their donated eggs. Obtaining employment at the clinic under aliases, they soon discover the horrifying aims of its research, immediately putting their lives-and their sanity-irrevocably at riskýPosited on up-to-the-minute science, Shock is a spine-tingling novel of medicine run amok by the bestselling master of medical suspense.

Editorial Reviews

A startling novel based on the latest fertility technology, it's "one of the most memorable of Robin Cook's medical thrillers." (The Associated Press) -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of Robin Cook

Doctor and author Robin Cook is widely credited with introducing the word "medical" to the thriller genre, and twenty-five years after the publication of his breakthrough novel, Coma, he continues to dominate the category he created. Cook has successfully combined medical fact with fantasy to produce a succession of New York Times bestsellers, including Outbreak (1987), Mindbend (1988), Mutation (1989), Harmful Intent (1990), Vital Signs (1991), Blindsight (1992), Terminal (1993), Fatal Cure (1994), Acceptable Risk (1995), Contagion (1996), Chromosome 6 (1997), Toxin (1998) and Vector (1999). In each of his novels, Robin Cook strives to write about issues at the forefront of current medical practice. To date, he has explored issues such as organ donation, genetic engineering, in vitro fertilization, research funding, managed care, drug research, and organ transplantation. In Shock, Cook reaches the crossroads of medical technology and ethics by uncovering secrets of a fertility clinic. Cook says he chose to write thrillers because the form gives him "an opportunity to get the public interested in things about medicine they didn't seem to know about. I believe my books are actually teaching people." Coma was made into a successful feature film, and Cook's novels have also been made into television productions. In December 1993, CBS-TV aired "Robin Cook's Harmful Intent"; in November 1994, NBC-TV aired "Robin Cook's Mortal Fear"; in May 1995, NBC-TV aired "Robin Cook's Virus," based on Outbreak; and in February 1996 NBC-TV aired "Robin Cook's Terminal." In addition to 1997's "Robin Cook's Invasion," NBC-TV has two other Cook novels in production. Robin Cook is a graduate of Columbia University Medical School and finished his postgraduate medical training at Harvard. He is currently on leave from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He divides his time between homes in Boston and Florida.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Berkley

Filesize

568.86 KB

Number of Pages

352

eBook ISBN

9780786573103

Excerpt from: Shock by Robin Cook

OCTOBER 8, 1999
11:15 P.M.

SO LET ME get this straight," Joanna Meissner said to Carlton Williams. The two friends were sitting in the dark inside Carlton's Jeep Cherokee in a no-parking zone on Craigie Street alongside the Craigie Arms apartment building in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "You've decided that it would be best for us to wait to be married until after you finish your surgical residency some three or four years from now."

"I haven't decided anything," Carlton said defensively. "We're having a discussion here."

Joanna and Carlton had been out to dinner in Harvard Square that Friday evening and had been enjoying themselves until Joanna had brought up the sore subject of their long-term plans. As usual, from that moment on, the tone of the conversation had deteriorated. They had been over this thorny issue many times in the past as a consequence of their engagement. Theirs was a quintessentially long affair; they had known each other since kindergarten and had been dating each other exclusively since the ninth grade.

"Listen," Carlton said soothingly. "I'm just trying to think of what's best for both of us."

"Oh, bull!" Joanna blurted. Despite her vow to herself to stay calm, she could feel anger brewing in her gut as if she were a nuclear reactor about to go critical.

"I'm serious," Carlton said. "Joanna, I'm working my tail off. You know how often I'm on call. You know the hours. Being a resident at the MGH is a hell of a lot more demanding than I'd ever guessed."

"What difference does that make?" Joanna snapped, unable to keep the irritation she felt from being painfully obvious. She couldn't help feeling betrayed and rejected.

"It makes a lot of difference," Carlton persisted. "I'm exhausted. I'm no fun to be with. I can't have a normal conversation outside of what's going on in the hospital. It's pathetic. I don't even know what's happening in Boston, much less the world."

"That kind of comment might have some validity if we were dating casually. But the fact of the matter is we've been seeing each other for eleven years. And up until I broached this delicate issue of setting a date tonight, you were enjoying yourself, and you were perfectly fun to be with."

"I certainly love seeing you . . ." Carlton said.

"That's reassuring," Joanna interjected sarcastically. "What I find particularly ironic about this situation is that you're the one who asked me to marry you, not vice versa. The trouble is, that was seven years ago. I'd say that suggests your ardor has significantly cooled."

"It hasn't," Carlton protested. "I do want to marry you."