BOOK REVIEW: Fatal Cure by Robin Cook

 

Originally published in 1994, this follows a man and wife team of doctors, fresh out of medical school, who leave the big city to move to what is apparently an ideal community, Bartlett, Vermont. There they hope that, not only will their careers be stable enough to pay off the enormous debt they have incurred for their education, but also that their young daughter, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, will be in an environment where her lungs will be able to heal. But soon they discover that Bartlett is not all it’s cracked up to be. Strange deaths begin to claim patients at the hospital where they are working, while the HMO that has almost complete charge over the hospital can think only of how much money is being spent. Add to this a sheriff that is completely unconvinced and unwilling to believe that the attacks on their lives and property are real, and this makes for a very tense and entertaining medical mystery drama. There are quite a few undefined medical terms in this that the layman may not understand completely, but this does not take away from the story. A good one for a light read beside the fire on a cold winter night.