With her infant sons neuroblastoma in complete remission famedmedical examiner Dr. Laurie Montgomery decides to return towork after two years of medical leave. She takes a routine caseto ease herself back into the job. An unidentified Japanese male who died of what appears to be natural causes. After hours of intense investigation Laurie suspects that this case is a lotmore devious than it appears. When Dr. Ben Corey CEO of a promising start up company called iPS USALLC discovers that he can make billions from the commercialization of human induced pluripotent stem cells being researched at Kyoto Univ. he arranges to steal the lab books that will secure his company'shold on the patent. Ben doesn't have the money at this time sohe goes to the Mafia and the Japanese Yakusa for help. Tocomplicate matters two factions of the Yakusa are trying to alsoget possession of the lab books that Ben stole. Laurie is about to become involved in this not realizing that the Mafia and Yakusawill stop at nothing to keep her from the truth. An older book from Robin Cook the tenth in the Jack Stapleton series. A page turner and well worth the read. So Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery are back in this thrilling novel. I'll admit that even though I love Robin Cook's novels, there tends to be a severe time lag between me reading his novel. Even so, by now, the characters were familiar, including Lou, Vinnie, Paulie & Warren. Having said that, someone new to Robin Cook can still pick up this novel and enjoy the story without having to worry about the backstory of these characters. What you need to know about them is told to you, unfolding in the pages of the book, just as any stand alone book would do. This is the 10th mustery with the same people involved and I have not read all of the other 9 before it & those i have read were certainly not in the order of publication. Of course, a familiar reader will be more at home with the laurie, Jack and the gang but one does not need to other novels to enjoy this mystery.About the plot, Cook keeps hou interested in the story right upto the very end. There are no twists in the story since you know right off who the bad guy is and who the good guy is. I'd also immediately guessed that Laurie's baby was going to be kidnapped since it was so obviously staring the reader in the face. But the reader is still taken on a thrill ride as the story unfolds. The characters are very real and good amount of care has been taken to discribe the inner workings of not only the Mafia but also the Yakuza. As usual, Cook has centred his plot around a medical premise which creates the catylist. The only problem I had was that the ending of this book was rushed. I actually started to get worried at around Page 360 that the story may actually continue in another book since I was so close to the end. After all the care had been taken to get readers interested in Ben Corey and his company, in the antics of Louie Barbera and his YKuza allies, the end did not reflect their downfall from their perspective at all. Instead Cook tried to explain the loose ends away in a neat little conversation between Lou, Laurie and Jack. It was almost as if Cook's publisher put a stop on how many pages his novel could comprise because I'm quite sure that a meticulous author such as Robin Cook did not become uninterested in his own novel and decided one morning just to end the story there and then. 4 and half stars!
Do You like book Cura (2010)?
One of the worst books I have read. Predictable and pandering.
—peacenlove0126
Real fast ending. Forgettable but easy read.
—brutalsanchez
