Book Review: Contagion

Alright! The first book I've read this year that didn't completely suck! (I'm not forgetting about My Friend Leonard, don't worry. That was a reread and doesn't count.)

Contagion by Robin Cook

This is a medical mystery/thriller that doesn't actually contain too much medical jargon. The hero, if we can call him that, is a medical examiner in the great New York City. He has a past with a certain healthcare conglomerate that owns one of the hospitals in the city that comes into play in the novel. He also has a past, and not one of those ex-gambling addict, used to be a hitman for the mafia kind of pasts either. He just has a grudge and a sad story, which may or may not be relevant to the rest of the novel. I'm just saying, keep an open mind here.

Some mysterious deaths come into the lab in which our hero works. He diagnoses one of the deaths as the plague. An unusual diagnosis for someone living in the middle of New York City in the mid-1990's (Random side note: This book was written approx. 1995(?) and referenced the World Trade Center at least once. This dates the book in my mind as a 90's novel. This is not a bad thing, just something my brain chose to latch on to.) There is much inner-office politicking going on at the lab and his boss does not believe that the plague could be present in their city, especially in a patient that was previously hospitalized for complications involving diabetes. The head of the lab loses the bet. Jack, our hero whose name I just remembered, is officially a pain in the ass. Then another few mysterious deaths show up in the lab. From other patients who were previously hospitalized for seemingly unrelated illnesses. None of them came from the same floor, but somehow they all died of the same illness. Mysterious. And in Jack's mind, suspicious. He links the deaths to the fact that the hospital is owned by the same company that he has a grudge against. Which is only the first part of the story. It only gets better from there.

I won't give a play by play of the novel, but lets just say that there is a romantic opportunity for Jack. More than one actually. And Jack gets involved in a gang war, which is partially/mostly his fault for being nosy about the deaths at the hospital.But he has friends in high places though that swoop in to save the day. So all is well.

It's a good book. Fast paced. Just enough medical stuff to keep me interested without being overly technical. I enjoyed this book thoroughly.