Reviews

Despite inept prose and an overload of synthetic crises, Cook's new novel will probaby be popular with fans of Coma, Godplayer and his other thrillers. The heroine is gutsy, naive Dr. Melissa Blumenthal of the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. Sent to report on an exotic, killer virus that is claiming victims in every state, the young doctor learns more than she should for her own safety. There are clues to a scheme by the prestigious members of the Physicians Action Congress to control the medical profession by planting the virus, which wipes out personnel and patients, in health-care centers; strangely, these are the only locations where the disease has been breaking out. Confiding her suspicions to a colleague at CDC, Melissa is betrayed and has to fight for her life repeatedly, performing feats that defy belief. Finally, she is free to embrace the suitor who proves himself worthy and let the law deal with the criminals in PAC. (February 16)

Surgeon-novelist Cook ( Coma , Mindbend ) sticks to his proven formula for medical best sellers in Outbreak. An earnest young doctor (this time, a woman virologist) stumbles on a health scandal of staggering proportions (sabotage of HMO clinics by a cabal of right-wing physicians). Risking infection from a deadly virus, she endures threats against her life to save millions of Americans from a plague worse than the Black Death. It's melodramatic and highly improbablethe shy, unassuming heroine, fresh from medical school has enough savvy to rout an international conspiracy, but figures out 100 pages later than the reader that her boyfriend is trying to kill her. Cook's readers aren't looking for realism; they'll settle for two hours of predictable escape. Joyce Smothers, Ocean Cty. Lib., Toms River, N.J.

YA A gripping medical drama that focuses on outbreaks of Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever, a deadly virus. Dr. Melissa Blumenthal, a Centers for Disease Control investigator, is thrust into the center of each seemingly unrelated outbreak. She slowly unravels the mystery of the virus and the conspiracy of doctors behind the growing crisis. This book will appeal to young adults because of its fast-paced plot, strong characters, and the general fear of contracting a deadly disease. Susan Penny, Houston Public Library