Critical

By: Robin Cook

Narrated by: George Guidall

New York City medical examiners Laurie Montgomery and Jack Stapleton return in this stunning novel from the “master of the medical thriller” (New York Times)—a ripped-from-the-headlines tale of an innovative doctor’s dangerous downward spiral.

After a rough climb to the top, doctor and businesswoman Angela Dawson appears to have it all: a start-up—Angels Healthcare—that’s about to go public, and a controlling interest in three busy specialist hospitals in New York City as well as plans for others in Miami and Los Angeles. But then a surge of drug-resistant staph infections in all three hospitals devastated her carefully constructed world...

NYC medical examiners Laurie Montgomery and Jack Stapleton are naturally intrigued by the uptick in staph-related post-procedure deaths at these hospitals. Aside from their professional curiosity, there’s a personal stake as well: Jack is facing surgery to repair a torn ACL at Angels Orthopedic Hospital.

Despite Jack’s protests, Laurie can’t help investigating—thus opening a Pandora’s box of corporate intrigue that threatens not just her livelihood, but both of their lives as well.©2007 Robin Cook; (P)2007 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA), Inc. and Books on Tape. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

Praise for Critical:

“A genuinely titillating epidemiological puzzle... Critical is tightly written, and each supporting character is vivid and memorable. The novel is a credit to the medical thriller genre, which Cook is generally thought to have created and made popular.”—The Associated Press

“Critical might scare you to death... his prescient plotting is far from far-fetched.”—The Tampa Tribune

“[A] lively new thriller... An entertaining mix of suspense, action, and education about medical issues.”—Publishers Weekly

“The medical mysteries and dangers the characters face should keep readers invested.”—Booklist

Riveting and action filled.

Enjoy following Jack and Laurie and the situations they get themselves into.
Also the medical info is very interesting.

I love medical mystery

Narrator could have used a little coaching in medical terminology (not his fault) example: MRSA (We say, "mersa," vs M.R.S.A.")

Scary

Okay, have to say this one scared the crap out of me, since I am a building principal of a school and the situation and the media scare hype of MRSA in schools. The narrator is great and has me in the seat, but I would really like to focus more on what the medical staff is doing about this risk rather than the mob. Another good one that makes you think yeah, this can really happen in the medical field.

classic cook

great story just unsure about the reason why the sabotage is still unclear to me.

Okay, not great

I much prefer Robin Cook's early books. Over the last several years his books are just okay. It is a decent story line, but it is bogged down by a lot of slow reading. Too much explanation on HVAC systems, engineering of a hospital, and boring conversation. In addition, the mafia guys were more comedic than serious.
That said, it was not bad and I did keep listening until the book was finished instead of getting a new book. There are a lot of better books out there, but also a lot worse too.