: Vital Signs
Author: Robin Cook
This was a disappointment after the last Cook book I read. Concept-wise it isn’t bad (woman doctor struggles through artificial insemination treatments and discovers discrepancies that no one will answer), but it’s 75 pages too long. Cook does well making ordinary people do extra-ordinary things in a believable manner (and without coincidence and excessive luck), but in this case all that detail makes for a slow, monotonous read. (Essentially the main character travels to several countries attempting to solve the medical mystery, and at each country she starts over.) But the fatal flaw for me was the way Cook killed off the lead’s best friend and she continues right on as though nothing’s happened. She doesn’t even grieve! Frankly, I almost put the book down at that point, but the mystery kept me interested. Unfortunately, the mystery turned out to be exactly what I thought it was on page 50, only it wasn’t revealed until page 300. I hate it when authors think their plot is so great they must keep it a secret until the last page: throughout the book they reveal so little it barely keeps the story moving, and ultimately the conclusion’s anti-climatic. Then you just wonder why you wasted the time reading it. Skip this one.
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