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Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery #8
Foreign Body
Shocked by her beloved grandmother's untimely death a day after she travels to New Delhi to have affordable hip-replacement surgery, fourth-year UCLA medical student Jennifer Hernandez heads to India for answers and uncovers a series of unexplained deaths, a finding that forces her to turn for assistance to her medical examiner mentor, Dr. Montgomery. 350,000 first printing.
435 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
About the author
Robin Cook
194 books4,639 followersLibrarian Note: Not to be confused with British novelist Robin Cook a pseudonym of Robert William Arthur Cook.
Dr. Robin Cook (born May 4, 1940 in New York City, New York) is an American doctor / novelist who writes about medicine, biotechnology, and topics affecting public health.
He is best known for being the author who created the medical-thriller genre by combining medical writing with the thriller genre of writing. His books have been bestsellers on the "New York Times" Bestseller List with several at #1. A number of his books have also been featured in Reader's Digest. Many were also featured in the Literary Guild. Many have been made into motion pictures.
Cook is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Columbia University School of Medicine. He finished his postgraduate medical training at Harvard that included general surgery and ophthalmology. He divides his time between homes in Florida, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts where he lives with his wife Jean. He is currently on leave from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He has successfully combined medical fact with fiction to produce a succession of bestselling books. Cook's medical thrillers are designed, in part, to make the public aware of both the technological possibilities of modern medicine and the ensuing ethical conundrums.
Cook got a taste of the larger world when the Cousteau Society recruited him to run its blood - gas lab in the South of France while he was in medical school. Intrigued by diving, he later called on a connection he made through Jacques Cousteau to become an aquanaut with the US Navy Sealab when he was drafted in the 60's. During his navy career he served on a nuclear submarine for a seventy-five day stay underwater where he wrote his first book! [1]
Cook was a private member of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Board of Trustees, appointed to a six-year term by the President George W. Bush.[2]
[edit] Doctor / Novelist
Dr. Cook's profession as a doctor has provided him with ideas and background for many of his novels. In each of his novels, he strives to write about the issues at the forefront of current medical practice.
To date, he has explored issues such as organ donation, genetic engineering,fertility treatment, medical research funding, managed care, medical malpractice, drug research, drug pricing, specialty hospitals, stem cells, and organ transplantation.[3]
Dr. Cook has been remarked to have an uncanny ability to anticipate national controversy. In an interview with Dr.Cook, Stephen McDonald talked to him about his novel Shock; Cook admits the timing of Shock was fortuitous. "I suppose that you could say that it's the most like Coma in that it deals with an issue that everybody seems to be concerned about," he says, "I wrote this book to address the stem cell issue, which the public really doesn't know much about. Besides entertaining readers, my main goal is to get people interested in some of these issues, because it's the public that ultimately really should decide which way we ought to go in something as that has enormous potential for treating disease and disability but touches up against the ethically problematic abortion issue."[4]
Keeping his lab coat handy helps him turn our fear of doctors into bestsellers. "I joke that if my books stop selling, I can always fall back on brain surgery," he says. "But I am still very interested in being a doctor. If I had to do it over again, I would still study medicine. I think of myself more as a doctor who writes, rather than a writer who happens to be a doctor." After 35 books,he has come up with a diagnosis to explain why his medical thrillers remain so popular. "The main reason is, we all realize we are at risk. We're all going to be patients sometime," he says. "You can write about great white sharks or haunted houses, and you can say I'm not going into the ocean or I'm not going in haunted houses, but you can't say you're n
Dr. Robin Cook (born May 4, 1940 in New York City, New York) is an American doctor / novelist who writes about medicine, biotechnology, and topics affecting public health.
He is best known for being the author who created the medical-thriller genre by combining medical writing with the thriller genre of writing. His books have been bestsellers on the "New York Times" Bestseller List with several at #1. A number of his books have also been featured in Reader's Digest. Many were also featured in the Literary Guild. Many have been made into motion pictures.
Cook is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Columbia University School of Medicine. He finished his postgraduate medical training at Harvard that included general surgery and ophthalmology. He divides his time between homes in Florida, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts where he lives with his wife Jean. He is currently on leave from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He has successfully combined medical fact with fiction to produce a succession of bestselling books. Cook's medical thrillers are designed, in part, to make the public aware of both the technological possibilities of modern medicine and the ensuing ethical conundrums.
Cook got a taste of the larger world when the Cousteau Society recruited him to run its blood - gas lab in the South of France while he was in medical school. Intrigued by diving, he later called on a connection he made through Jacques Cousteau to become an aquanaut with the US Navy Sealab when he was drafted in the 60's. During his navy career he served on a nuclear submarine for a seventy-five day stay underwater where he wrote his first book! [1]
Cook was a private member of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Board of Trustees, appointed to a six-year term by the President George W. Bush.[2]
[edit] Doctor / Novelist
Dr. Cook's profession as a doctor has provided him with ideas and background for many of his novels. In each of his novels, he strives to write about the issues at the forefront of current medical practice.
To date, he has explored issues such as organ donation, genetic engineering,fertility treatment, medical research funding, managed care, medical malpractice, drug research, drug pricing, specialty hospitals, stem cells, and organ transplantation.[3]
Dr. Cook has been remarked to have an uncanny ability to anticipate national controversy. In an interview with Dr.Cook, Stephen McDonald talked to him about his novel Shock; Cook admits the timing of Shock was fortuitous. "I suppose that you could say that it's the most like Coma in that it deals with an issue that everybody seems to be concerned about," he says, "I wrote this book to address the stem cell issue, which the public really doesn't know much about. Besides entertaining readers, my main goal is to get people interested in some of these issues, because it's the public that ultimately really should decide which way we ought to go in something as that has enormous potential for treating disease and disability but touches up against the ethically problematic abortion issue."[4]
Keeping his lab coat handy helps him turn our fear of doctors into bestsellers. "I joke that if my books stop selling, I can always fall back on brain surgery," he says. "But I am still very interested in being a doctor. If I had to do it over again, I would still study medicine. I think of myself more as a doctor who writes, rather than a writer who happens to be a doctor." After 35 books,he has come up with a diagnosis to explain why his medical thrillers remain so popular. "The main reason is, we all realize we are at risk. We're all going to be patients sometime," he says. "You can write about great white sharks or haunted houses, and you can say I'm not going into the ocean or I'm not going in haunted houses, but you can't say you're n
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 479 reviews
October 4, 2022
This book is part of a series. It can be read as a stand alone. In this one we deal with medical tourism. This is when patients go overseas to have procedures because they cannot afford them in America. The problem with this is affecting the bottom line for some American companies.
I loved the concept of this book. I believe Robin Cook excels when he takes a topic about contemporary medicine and adds nefarious plot to it. This has that. Why only the two star rating then? The execution of this book failed. The first problem was the dialogue between characters and I have had this problem with Cook's books recently. He uses the dialogue for exposition but it isn't subtle at all. I felt like the characters actually turned to look at me and pointedly say "This is what this means". I know this is a medical book and exposition is needed. But not like how it was executed in this book. That isn't even the biggest flaw. That would be is this is suppose to be a Jack and Laurie novel. I am here to tell you it isn't. Jack doesn't even make an appearance in the first hundred pages. And they had no affect on this book. If you took them out of this book the conflict and the resolution would have been exactly the same. They were basically used in name to get people to read this book.
I enjoy Robin Cook's books as he was one of my first go to authors. Lately though I have had a hard time with them. They are just not written tightly like I remember. He still has some great ideas for plots but the execution has been lacking. Unfortunately that includes this book.
I loved the concept of this book. I believe Robin Cook excels when he takes a topic about contemporary medicine and adds nefarious plot to it. This has that. Why only the two star rating then? The execution of this book failed. The first problem was the dialogue between characters and I have had this problem with Cook's books recently. He uses the dialogue for exposition but it isn't subtle at all. I felt like the characters actually turned to look at me and pointedly say "This is what this means". I know this is a medical book and exposition is needed. But not like how it was executed in this book. That isn't even the biggest flaw. That would be is this is suppose to be a Jack and Laurie novel. I am here to tell you it isn't. Jack doesn't even make an appearance in the first hundred pages. And they had no affect on this book. If you took them out of this book the conflict and the resolution would have been exactly the same. They were basically used in name to get people to read this book.
I enjoy Robin Cook's books as he was one of my first go to authors. Lately though I have had a hard time with them. They are just not written tightly like I remember. He still has some great ideas for plots but the execution has been lacking. Unfortunately that includes this book.
September 28, 2023
Is Robin Cook jumping the shark?
Jennifer Hernandez, a fourth year medical student at UCLA, suspicious about certain details of the death of her grandmother in a New Delhi hospital, flies to India to investigate and to claim the body. Ultimately, Hernandez discovers that her grandmother has in fact been murdered by a nurse employed by "Nurses International", the subsidiary of an enormous, profit-hungry HMO that is intent on making a burgeoning Indian medical industry appear to be dangerous and incompetent. It seems that the meteoric growth of medical tourism in India has begun to make a substantial and rapidly deepening dent in the profits of the American HMO as it watches many of its patients travel to India for less expensive alternative solutions to their medical woes.
And here I thought Robin Cook was supposed to be writing medical "thrillers". Sadly, FOREIGN BODY was anything but!
The list of what was wrong with FOREIGN BODY is lengthy indeed - cartoonish villain stereotypes, atrociously stilted dialogue, an unconvincing sappy ending, a complete neglect of the broader political issues that should have been explored in much greater depth and an utter lack of suspense in that the means, the methods, the opportunities and the perpetrators were completely disclosed virtually from the outset of the novel.
The list of what was entertaining is all too short! At least Cook has done a reasonably interesting job of talking about the endlessly fascinating aspects of what one would be likely to encounter in a tourist trip to such an exotic destination as New Delhi. He's also taken us on a faintly amusing side trip through the hormonal nightmares that fertility treatments can wreak on a patient of the female persuasion. But this is certainly damning with faint praise as it only means the difference between an award of two stars versus the one star rating that I was toying with.
Weak gruel indeed! Not recommended and I hope not representative of Cook's efforts in the future.
Paul Weiss
Jennifer Hernandez, a fourth year medical student at UCLA, suspicious about certain details of the death of her grandmother in a New Delhi hospital, flies to India to investigate and to claim the body. Ultimately, Hernandez discovers that her grandmother has in fact been murdered by a nurse employed by "Nurses International", the subsidiary of an enormous, profit-hungry HMO that is intent on making a burgeoning Indian medical industry appear to be dangerous and incompetent. It seems that the meteoric growth of medical tourism in India has begun to make a substantial and rapidly deepening dent in the profits of the American HMO as it watches many of its patients travel to India for less expensive alternative solutions to their medical woes.
And here I thought Robin Cook was supposed to be writing medical "thrillers". Sadly, FOREIGN BODY was anything but!
The list of what was wrong with FOREIGN BODY is lengthy indeed - cartoonish villain stereotypes, atrociously stilted dialogue, an unconvincing sappy ending, a complete neglect of the broader political issues that should have been explored in much greater depth and an utter lack of suspense in that the means, the methods, the opportunities and the perpetrators were completely disclosed virtually from the outset of the novel.
The list of what was entertaining is all too short! At least Cook has done a reasonably interesting job of talking about the endlessly fascinating aspects of what one would be likely to encounter in a tourist trip to such an exotic destination as New Delhi. He's also taken us on a faintly amusing side trip through the hormonal nightmares that fertility treatments can wreak on a patient of the female persuasion. But this is certainly damning with faint praise as it only means the difference between an award of two stars versus the one star rating that I was toying with.
Weak gruel indeed! Not recommended and I hope not representative of Cook's efforts in the future.
Paul Weiss
January 21, 2024
Es verdad que todos los libros que he leído de este hombre se parecen, aunque eso le pasa un poco a todas las sagas, pero es que si va de forenses y es un thriller médico, pues ya van a coincidir en unas cuántas cosas que vienen por el género.
Pero es que este hombre las justifica muy bien. Se le da de vicio. Y lo del manejo de la tensión, ya sé que lo digo siempre, pero este hombre tiene un verdadero don.
Valoro muchísimo que siempre me tenga en vilo de principio a fin y que en cuanto termine me diga ¿Pero ya acabó? Y estoy con el corazón a mil, que el infarto me va a dar a mí, y no a los personajes. El thriller como arma del crimen😂.
Pero es que este hombre las justifica muy bien. Se le da de vicio. Y lo del manejo de la tensión, ya sé que lo digo siempre, pero este hombre tiene un verdadero don.
Valoro muchísimo que siempre me tenga en vilo de principio a fin y que en cuanto termine me diga ¿Pero ya acabó? Y estoy con el corazón a mil, que el infarto me va a dar a mí, y no a los personajes. El thriller como arma del crimen😂.
September 20, 2008
Predictable, often boring, uninteresting characters and an implausible plot - I dragged myself through the last half of the book. Disappointing as I have always enjoyed Robin Cook's early medical-thriller books. This latest effort just doesn't match up.
August 31, 2008
Why do I keep reading Robin Cook's books? I enjoyed his early works, and I suppose I hope each time he'll have written something as interesting.
"Foreign Body," though, is a perfect example of a book dashed off without concern for its quality to satisfy a publisher's deadline. Cook knows his readers will buy and read (after all, I did), even if the book is sub-par.
What can I say? The storyline was predictable, the characters flat, and the plot implausible. Most irritating, though, was the artificial dialogue. It struck me as a script for a puppet show.
So why not give "Foreign Body" only one star? Because it was readable enough to get me from front to back cover in a few days. If nothing else, I enjoyed tallying my grievances as I read!
"Foreign Body," though, is a perfect example of a book dashed off without concern for its quality to satisfy a publisher's deadline. Cook knows his readers will buy and read (after all, I did), even if the book is sub-par.
What can I say? The storyline was predictable, the characters flat, and the plot implausible. Most irritating, though, was the artificial dialogue. It struck me as a script for a puppet show.
So why not give "Foreign Body" only one star? Because it was readable enough to get me from front to back cover in a few days. If nothing else, I enjoyed tallying my grievances as I read!
October 23, 2017
My second read of this book and am very disillusioned by the quality of research that has gone on to expose the paucity of Delhi and Varanasi in particular and India in general.
There are too many misrepresented facts that can't be ignored.
The story too is a lukewarm slapdash attempt at creating a medical mystery surrounding medical tourism.
Jennifer Hernandez (I strongly resented this character, she rubbed me the wrong way), a 4th year medical.student is shocked to know from CNN news that her grandmother has died under mysterious circumstances after undergoing hip replacement surgery in New Delhi, India. Within a couple of days, another 2 US citizens die in reputed hospitals in Delhi after undergoing elective surgical procedures.
Jennifer flies to Delhi to investigate, dragging in Laurie Montgomery ( het mentor) and Jack Stapleton, Laurie's husband), both of them reputed forensic pathologists. Jennifer's boyfriend Neal too joins the melee..
they uncover disheartening facts.
Veena Chandra, is a nurse employed by an American company , who has ahand in these mysterious deaths. She is another character who has a major role in the turn of the events.
The whole story was improbable and ludicrous. I usually don't find out loopholes, unless they are pointed out to me. But this novel made me proud of myself.
Later on, I will enumerate all.the drawbacks of this story , but suffice to say, this is one book that i won't recommend to anyone.
There are too many misrepresented facts that can't be ignored.
The story too is a lukewarm slapdash attempt at creating a medical mystery surrounding medical tourism.
Jennifer Hernandez (I strongly resented this character, she rubbed me the wrong way), a 4th year medical.student is shocked to know from CNN news that her grandmother has died under mysterious circumstances after undergoing hip replacement surgery in New Delhi, India. Within a couple of days, another 2 US citizens die in reputed hospitals in Delhi after undergoing elective surgical procedures.
Jennifer flies to Delhi to investigate, dragging in Laurie Montgomery ( het mentor) and Jack Stapleton, Laurie's husband), both of them reputed forensic pathologists. Jennifer's boyfriend Neal too joins the melee..
they uncover disheartening facts.
Veena Chandra, is a nurse employed by an American company , who has ahand in these mysterious deaths. She is another character who has a major role in the turn of the events.
The whole story was improbable and ludicrous. I usually don't find out loopholes, unless they are pointed out to me. But this novel made me proud of myself.
Later on, I will enumerate all.the drawbacks of this story , but suffice to say, this is one book that i won't recommend to anyone.
September 9, 2008
I generally like medical thrillers and used to enjoy Robin Cook but lately I find his writing, especially his dialogue to be implausible. He over uses the exclaimation point and I find myself thinking again and again, 'no one talks like this'.
October 6, 2017
Made it to page 167 before I gave up on this book. Such shallow and ditzy characters! I almost sprained my eyes from rolling them so hard.
July 17, 2009
You know, I really used to enjoy Robin Cook. I don't know if I've become too good of a reader for him or if he's having someone else write his stuff for him now. It's sad. I knew what was going to happen from the very beginning and the coversation was horrible. Oh well. I guess I'll just stick to his old stuff and hope that he stops writing soon so the majority of his books are good.
September 30, 2008
Some of Robin Cook's books are really good, but lately all of the books tell a story for a while and then he just ends them. It's like he's decided he has enough pages so he summerizes in 10 pages (quite unrealistically) and is finished.
June 29, 2021
Aquí ya desde la sinopsis vemos que la participación más trascendental es la de Jenifer, por lo que Jack Stapleton y Montgomery tienen un papel mucho más secundario. Eso me pareció bien, le dio otro enfoque y escenario tan distinto al ya conocido. si bien aparecen, son más pintados como personajes secudnarios y resultan de gran ayuda para Jenifer. A ver cómo avanza la historia
March 25, 2017
And people wonder why I hate hospitals......
September 15, 2023
Indyjskie zabili go i nie uciekł.
Jennifer Hernandez to studentka medycyny i dawna znajoma Laurie Montgomery. Ukochana babcia dziewczyny, nie pytając wnuczki o radę, skorzystała z oferty indyjskiej turystyki medycznej. Prosty zabieg chirurgiczny okazał się jednak dla niej wyrokiem śmierci. Zrozpaczona dziewczyna natychmiast wyrusza do Indii, aby pożegnać babcię i podjąć decyzje odnośnie pochówku. Gdy dociera na miejsce, spotyka się z bardzo chłodnym przyjęciem przez reprezentantów szpitala, co wzbudza w niej niepokój. A kiedy niedługo później dochodzi do kolejnej nagłej śmierci po rutynowej operacji, dziewczyna na poważnie zaczyna zastanawiać się, czy aby na pewno nie są to połączone ze sobą sprawy. Na pomoc wzywa więc Laurie, a razem z nią i Jacka, specjalistów od podejrzanych zgonów.
Ależ tam było nawymyślane! Od początku wiemy o co chodzi i kto za tym stoi, pozostałe elementy fabuły żywcem skopiowane z innych książek autora, ogólnie straszna nuda. Za to temat jak najbardziej aktualny, obecnie turystyka medyczna kwitnie, pierwszy z brzegu przykład: ludzie robią sobie tureckie "białe jak radziecka lodówka" zęby, tak, znane jest mi to zjawisko :)
5/10
Jennifer Hernandez to studentka medycyny i dawna znajoma Laurie Montgomery. Ukochana babcia dziewczyny, nie pytając wnuczki o radę, skorzystała z oferty indyjskiej turystyki medycznej. Prosty zabieg chirurgiczny okazał się jednak dla niej wyrokiem śmierci. Zrozpaczona dziewczyna natychmiast wyrusza do Indii, aby pożegnać babcię i podjąć decyzje odnośnie pochówku. Gdy dociera na miejsce, spotyka się z bardzo chłodnym przyjęciem przez reprezentantów szpitala, co wzbudza w niej niepokój. A kiedy niedługo później dochodzi do kolejnej nagłej śmierci po rutynowej operacji, dziewczyna na poważnie zaczyna zastanawiać się, czy aby na pewno nie są to połączone ze sobą sprawy. Na pomoc wzywa więc Laurie, a razem z nią i Jacka, specjalistów od podejrzanych zgonów.
Ależ tam było nawymyślane! Od początku wiemy o co chodzi i kto za tym stoi, pozostałe elementy fabuły żywcem skopiowane z innych książek autora, ogólnie straszna nuda. Za to temat jak najbardziej aktualny, obecnie turystyka medyczna kwitnie, pierwszy z brzegu przykład: ludzie robią sobie tureckie "białe jak radziecka lodówka" zęby, tak, znane jest mi to zjawisko :)
5/10
November 15, 2008
This book is finally a slight departure from Cook's recently-typical conspiracy books. He writes it so you can see the deliberate nature of the people cooking up the conspiracy. It's actually kind of horrifying. I was losing interest in his books (I have skipped one or two recently) because they have turned into soap boxes against insurance companies and managed care and were pretty much all the same. I picked this one up because I do like the characters Laurie and Jack and I finished it because I like the style of the writing. My one criticism of this book, and it's minor, is I had just re-read "Harmful Intent" in which the drug used is the same as the one used in this book. Not a big deal, but isn't there anything else that would have served the same purpose but been more original? That made it feel a bit recycled.
September 24, 2009
I'm so disappointed with Robin Cook's writing. I swear it didn't used to be this bad . . . The conversations were stilted and awkward and unlikely and the plot could have been good but there were no twists or surprises. The main excitment of the story started with the last 5th of the book left and even then, it didn't ever ramp up, it just sort of peatered out. I was very disappointed. I kept reading waiting for the goodness and excitment to come - thinking that as long as there is a good part in a book I can over look the bad writing - yup, it never came.
September 6, 2017
Good book. It kept my interest to the end.
September 6, 2024
Como todos los libros de Robin Cook que he leído, en este encontramos un thriller eficaz, que empieza fuerte, sobre la mitad pega un petardazo y luego avanza a toda velocidad hasta que te lo resuelve todo en cuestión de las últimas 20 páginas (o menos).
Se podría decir que consta de un planteamiento y nudo que siguen desarrollándose prácticamente hasta el final, añadiendo nuevos elementos hasta caer en un desenlace meteórico.
No le pongo las cinco estrellas porque no es un libro que te vaya a cambiar la vida y sin duda no es el mejor de Cook, pero está muy bien, como todos los demás. No desentona.
Se podría decir que consta de un planteamiento y nudo que siguen desarrollándose prácticamente hasta el final, añadiendo nuevos elementos hasta caer en un desenlace meteórico.
No le pongo las cinco estrellas porque no es un libro que te vaya a cambiar la vida y sin duda no es el mejor de Cook, pero está muy bien, como todos los demás. No desentona.
December 19, 2021
While I liked the book, Laurie and Jack make a late entrance to the story. I'd say it was 50% through the book before they show up. The story was good but I would have liked them coming into the story much sooner. The concept of Medical Tourism is a real one as many people come here to get surgery and have their babies etc. This was an interesting switch, having India as the place people were going to have the surgeries, etc done.
February 17, 2022
I can’t bring myself to finish this one… It just keeps getting worse. These books have never been particularly good, but they are usually entertaining. This one is just really badly written and apparently not even edited lol. I’ll still keep working through this guy’s books but man, I hope they don’t stay this bad.
November 29, 2019
Nice book with suspense sprinkled here and there. It was definitely a great medical thriller for me.
August 4, 2020
Plot didn't grab me enough in the beginning to get past the one-dimensional and stereotypical characters, who often stopped just short of offensive (a good-for-nothing, Hispanic cousin named Juan? Really?). Put it down after the first half and did not pick it back up.
March 29, 2024
Although the plots of the novels deal with different topics in medicine (this one was about medical tourism), it felt like some of the plot points were recycled from his previous novels this time around. Still an enjoyable read though.
December 14, 2022
This is the first Robin Cook book I've read. Most reviewers seem to think that this falls short of other works, but I guess my fascination with all things Indian kept me interested. I would definitely pick up more of his works.
December 19, 2017
Actually, it is my first book from Robin Cook and I liked it. Although the end was predictable, I enjoyed most of the read. I will try to read it in the right order though.
September 16, 2013
A great story. Laurie Montgomery and Jack Stapleton are back, though in a cursory role in this fast paced novel which uncovers a plot to discredit the Medical Tourism business in India and Asia.
A company has been set up to provide training and visas to Indian nurses to that they can get jobs in the US. But this was actually a front to gather data from the hospitals catering to rich foreigners who have come to India solely for the purpose of undergoing various surgical procedures at much more affordable and attractive rates.
When this company discovers that the actual success rates for surgery and post-op in India was outstanding they decide to opt for the unethical solution – create their own bad data for each of these hospitals, thereby discrediting the Medical Tourism business in India and Asia in general, which would guarantee an end result of Americans spending their hard earned money in the US itself instead of choosing cheaper options abroad.
The plot is fast paced and the suspense is spine-tingling. It starts off with the death of a medical student’s grandmother and the hospital forcing her to make a decision on the body – which in turn gets her hackles up. Upon dogged investigation and sheer luck, she stumbles upon two other similar cases and touches base with the grieving family.
Our favourite MEs – Laurie and Jack play only a cursory role in the drama as Laurie flies down to India with Jack in reluctant tow (owning to the fact that the couple is trying hard to get pregnant and can’t miss any opportunity during the fertility treatment).
For most of the book, Robin Cook’s research into India can clearly be seen. Care has been taken to describe even the small details with great accuracy.
The medical student dominates the plot – her character is well-rounded – intelligent, sharp and strong while still maintaining the usual human emotions as she is grieving for her beloved grandmother.
The hospital staff, while not the cause of the deaths, are still trying to cover their own behind and save face; such a response would definitely be expected, especially from a business that relies completely on the medical tourism business i.e. foreigners and their foreign currency.
The shell or fake company that provides training for the nurses are the bad guys here. And while the big bosses of the company are clearly without ethics what surprised me was the characters of the Indian nurses. This company had hired honest-to-God, hardworking, decent Indian nurses who all had ambitions of working in the US. None of them had any criminal records, and when the bosses hired them they did not consider any morally bankrupt individuals since the main purpose of the company was going to be the gathering of data from these hospitals regarding the failure rate. It had been assumed that failure rate and post-op infection would have been common in a third world country like India and the hospitals themselves were covering up the bad data. As this was not the case, the bosses of the fake company decide to use the same Indian nurses to act as angels of death in the hospitals to which they had been farmed out to.
I am quite confident that no matter how badly Indians want to work abroad, they would not have a complete change of character from good to evil and easily partake in murder as though it was commonly done by them. This portrayed Indians and Indian women in a bad light, especially since, nowadays Indian women are more empowered.
That aside, the story was gripping and a must read.
A company has been set up to provide training and visas to Indian nurses to that they can get jobs in the US. But this was actually a front to gather data from the hospitals catering to rich foreigners who have come to India solely for the purpose of undergoing various surgical procedures at much more affordable and attractive rates.
When this company discovers that the actual success rates for surgery and post-op in India was outstanding they decide to opt for the unethical solution – create their own bad data for each of these hospitals, thereby discrediting the Medical Tourism business in India and Asia in general, which would guarantee an end result of Americans spending their hard earned money in the US itself instead of choosing cheaper options abroad.
The plot is fast paced and the suspense is spine-tingling. It starts off with the death of a medical student’s grandmother and the hospital forcing her to make a decision on the body – which in turn gets her hackles up. Upon dogged investigation and sheer luck, she stumbles upon two other similar cases and touches base with the grieving family.
Our favourite MEs – Laurie and Jack play only a cursory role in the drama as Laurie flies down to India with Jack in reluctant tow (owning to the fact that the couple is trying hard to get pregnant and can’t miss any opportunity during the fertility treatment).
For most of the book, Robin Cook’s research into India can clearly be seen. Care has been taken to describe even the small details with great accuracy.
The medical student dominates the plot – her character is well-rounded – intelligent, sharp and strong while still maintaining the usual human emotions as she is grieving for her beloved grandmother.
The hospital staff, while not the cause of the deaths, are still trying to cover their own behind and save face; such a response would definitely be expected, especially from a business that relies completely on the medical tourism business i.e. foreigners and their foreign currency.
The shell or fake company that provides training for the nurses are the bad guys here. And while the big bosses of the company are clearly without ethics what surprised me was the characters of the Indian nurses. This company had hired honest-to-God, hardworking, decent Indian nurses who all had ambitions of working in the US. None of them had any criminal records, and when the bosses hired them they did not consider any morally bankrupt individuals since the main purpose of the company was going to be the gathering of data from these hospitals regarding the failure rate. It had been assumed that failure rate and post-op infection would have been common in a third world country like India and the hospitals themselves were covering up the bad data. As this was not the case, the bosses of the fake company decide to use the same Indian nurses to act as angels of death in the hospitals to which they had been farmed out to.
I am quite confident that no matter how badly Indians want to work abroad, they would not have a complete change of character from good to evil and easily partake in murder as though it was commonly done by them. This portrayed Indians and Indian women in a bad light, especially since, nowadays Indian women are more empowered.
That aside, the story was gripping and a must read.
October 16, 2009
Corruption runs rampant through India. The big dogs look out for themselves, and only themselves. Any way to make a bit of money is not out of reach, and Jennifer Hernandez hears of her grandmother’s sudden death during elective surgery in India, she becomes suspicious. Jennifer ends up traveling to India and finds herself caught in the center of a web of conspiracy and corruption. Robin Cook’s Foreign Body provoked thoughts of the plausibility of similar instances happening in reality.
Unfortunately, this book contains certain characteristics that disappointed me. One, over-casting, can degrade from the overall effect of a book by going into too much detail involving minor characters. Another problem of over-casting involves remembering characters. With so many characters, remembering every one, and relevant information involving them, becomes difficult. Robin Cook also uses strange names in Foreign Body, which is justified because the events unfold in India. However, he uses names very similar to each other, for example the names Rajish and Ramesh can be confused very easily.
Another dissatisfying trait that this book possesses is the point at which the book caught my interest. By the time I actually reached the good part of this book, I had sworn that I would never read another of Cook’s books. The satisfying action in this book occurred within the last twenty percent of the novel. Most books have action placed throughout, but this manuscript concentrated all interesting parts near the very end. Not only is the action too concentrated, but also any decent skirmish dissipates momentously quickly.
Thus far I have not allowed Robin Cook any leeway or slack. Thus far I have criticized and cut down his work, but despite all of the negative aspects of this novel, some positive features exist. For one, this book made me think. The events told of in this paperback seem impossible at first, but upon further inspection, a revelation may occur. Some people will do anything for money and power. Inside this tale, greedy, despicable humans inside this book and outside commit crimes remorselessly just to gain material possessions or power. This book simply provokes one to question the morality of big business, their government and others, and perhaps other seemingly normal people. After reading this novel, I realized that anyone can succumb to corruption, and given the right circumstances, definitely will.
Regretfully, this book’s over-casting, slow pace, and other degrading traits take away from the thought provoking aspects of this novel. If read through completely, Foreign Body becomes a decent read, but the difficulty lies in reading through the book completely. Had I not have to have read the book for AP Biology, I would have thrown the paperback into the fire and realize that watching the sorry book burn actually turned out to be more entertaining than reading to where I got to. I must say, I do not recommend this book to anyone save die hard Robin Cook fans. To be quite blunt, Robin Cook’s Foreign Body was a complete waste of time and given the opportunity, I would un-read the pitiable novel.
506 Pages
Unfortunately, this book contains certain characteristics that disappointed me. One, over-casting, can degrade from the overall effect of a book by going into too much detail involving minor characters. Another problem of over-casting involves remembering characters. With so many characters, remembering every one, and relevant information involving them, becomes difficult. Robin Cook also uses strange names in Foreign Body, which is justified because the events unfold in India. However, he uses names very similar to each other, for example the names Rajish and Ramesh can be confused very easily.
Another dissatisfying trait that this book possesses is the point at which the book caught my interest. By the time I actually reached the good part of this book, I had sworn that I would never read another of Cook’s books. The satisfying action in this book occurred within the last twenty percent of the novel. Most books have action placed throughout, but this manuscript concentrated all interesting parts near the very end. Not only is the action too concentrated, but also any decent skirmish dissipates momentously quickly.
Thus far I have not allowed Robin Cook any leeway or slack. Thus far I have criticized and cut down his work, but despite all of the negative aspects of this novel, some positive features exist. For one, this book made me think. The events told of in this paperback seem impossible at first, but upon further inspection, a revelation may occur. Some people will do anything for money and power. Inside this tale, greedy, despicable humans inside this book and outside commit crimes remorselessly just to gain material possessions or power. This book simply provokes one to question the morality of big business, their government and others, and perhaps other seemingly normal people. After reading this novel, I realized that anyone can succumb to corruption, and given the right circumstances, definitely will.
Regretfully, this book’s over-casting, slow pace, and other degrading traits take away from the thought provoking aspects of this novel. If read through completely, Foreign Body becomes a decent read, but the difficulty lies in reading through the book completely. Had I not have to have read the book for AP Biology, I would have thrown the paperback into the fire and realize that watching the sorry book burn actually turned out to be more entertaining than reading to where I got to. I must say, I do not recommend this book to anyone save die hard Robin Cook fans. To be quite blunt, Robin Cook’s Foreign Body was a complete waste of time and given the opportunity, I would un-read the pitiable novel.
506 Pages
January 18, 2014
Robin Cook, author of over two dozen medical thrillers, took on the medical tourism industry in “Foreign Body.” As in all his books, we are invited to view the dark side of medicine, so if you are considering traveling overseas to get a kidney transplant or a hip replacement, think again. Just kidding… maybe… ;-)
The sinister plot revolves around the untimely passing of a sixtyish grandmother after undergoing hip surgery in India. The fourth-year medical student granddaughter, Jennifer Hernandez, finds out about her loss while watching CNN in California only hours after granny has died. Medical tourism is the culprit behind the death (and two others), with American medical company employees out to discredit surgeries performed in other countries in order to keep business firmly in the USA.
We know who is at fault from the beginning, but the fun is in seeing how the granddaughter travels to India and unravels the complex crime, then discovers the criminals trying to cover their tracks. Her mentor, NYC medical examiner Dr. Laurie Montgomery, and Laurie’s husband, Dr. Jack Stapleton, follow Hernandez to India when unexplained medical questions arise and she is pressured unnecessarily to cremate her grandmother. We aren’t sure until nearly the end how it will all work out, but we are fully invested in the characters as the tension mounts and the stakes escalate.
I met Dr. Cook at a writer’s conference (where he was interviewed by “Sandstorm” author, James Rollins) and he was kind enough to autograph a copy of “Foreign Body” for my mother, a huge fan. She chose it for me to read to her during a hospital stay and several chapters work well as cliffhangers. It was hard to put down and leave behind when the story moved along so well. Fun read.
Fans of Cook have probably seen the movie, “Coma.” The book of the same name was Cook’s breakthrough novel, largely defining the ‘medical thriller’ genre over thirty years ago.
The sinister plot revolves around the untimely passing of a sixtyish grandmother after undergoing hip surgery in India. The fourth-year medical student granddaughter, Jennifer Hernandez, finds out about her loss while watching CNN in California only hours after granny has died. Medical tourism is the culprit behind the death (and two others), with American medical company employees out to discredit surgeries performed in other countries in order to keep business firmly in the USA.
We know who is at fault from the beginning, but the fun is in seeing how the granddaughter travels to India and unravels the complex crime, then discovers the criminals trying to cover their tracks. Her mentor, NYC medical examiner Dr. Laurie Montgomery, and Laurie’s husband, Dr. Jack Stapleton, follow Hernandez to India when unexplained medical questions arise and she is pressured unnecessarily to cremate her grandmother. We aren’t sure until nearly the end how it will all work out, but we are fully invested in the characters as the tension mounts and the stakes escalate.
I met Dr. Cook at a writer’s conference (where he was interviewed by “Sandstorm” author, James Rollins) and he was kind enough to autograph a copy of “Foreign Body” for my mother, a huge fan. She chose it for me to read to her during a hospital stay and several chapters work well as cliffhangers. It was hard to put down and leave behind when the story moved along so well. Fun read.
Fans of Cook have probably seen the movie, “Coma.” The book of the same name was Cook’s breakthrough novel, largely defining the ‘medical thriller’ genre over thirty years ago.
January 18, 2012
I've listened to many of Robin Cook's novels on book-on-tape. I did the same with this story. The story of medical tourism and corruption from the inside of the business out is very intriguing through out the novel but I still hold true to the truth that if I had to actually pick up the novel and read it, I would put it down and touch it again every couple months to read a chapter here and there to once again discover that yes, I do not enjoy Robin's writing style. This novel takes place over a span of a week or so, maybe less, you lose track of the days after many hours of listening. Everything that happens seems very dragged out, more or less to the point that the prologue took an hour by the professional's voice to listen to. I don't enjoy books where everything is too slow, and during the listening I did notice three or four errors in the writing the way things were worded, did not quite add up to be a professional novelist. The story it's self about Jennifer trying to find out what happened to her grandmother while away for medical tourism was a good story, I just wish that at points more things were included. I would have liked to see more of how her and Neil's relationship effected the decisions made by Jennifer. In the end of the book, it seemed to just end without any real closure for the story. After hearing the last chapter I was wondering why it was over. With so much detail through out the novel to wrap it all up in one sentence. The eipologue was not satisfying to that existent either. When the tape said it was over all I could think was "that's it?"
August 23, 2008
I've always enjoyed medical thrillers, and have read several of Robin Cooks books. Coma, some 30 years ago, being my absolute favorite. In Cooks latest medical thriller: Foreign Body, Cook's subject is medical tourism, the trend in which U.S. citizens seek to save costs on expensive surgery through treatment overseas. At the center of the drama is Jennifer Hernandez, a fourth-year medical student at UCLA, whose grandmother has died in a New Delhi hospital following hip replacement surgery. Suspicious about the circumstances, Hernandez immediately flies to India to investigate. There she not only discovers a number of similar deaths of U.S. citizens but also runs into a desperate Indian medical industry struggling to block all publicity about the deaths and a huge American HMO that wants nothing more than the widest exposure of the apparent medical missteps in the Third World.
Implausible plot twists, (CNN learns of the patients deaths before the family does) unconvincing villains, silly dialogue and a convenient,quickly wrapped up ending make this book a less than perfect read. I still enjoyed the book , but it was just average in my opinion.
Implausible plot twists, (CNN learns of the patients deaths before the family does) unconvincing villains, silly dialogue and a convenient,quickly wrapped up ending make this book a less than perfect read. I still enjoyed the book , but it was just average in my opinion.
September 15, 2009
I've always enjoyed the medical aspect of Robin Cook's books. Medical mysteries and details intrigue me. The plot in this book is pretty good, though the action wasn't very suspenseful and the book seemed to end too quickly and with more of a whimper than a bang. The setting is fantastic--I loved learning about India. You might want to read this book just to get the wonderful flavor of that land of contradictions. However, the conversation between people is so stilted and contrived. It really, really annoyed me this time. I think realistic conversation has always been Cook's weakness.
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