Crisis

By: Robin Cook

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

When Dr. Craig Bowman is served with a summons for medical malpractice, he's shocked, enraged, and more than a little humiliated. A devoted physician who works continuously in the service of others, he endured grueling years of training and is now a partner in an exclusive concierge medical practice. No longer forced to see more and more patients while spending less and less time with each one just to keep his office door open, he now provides the kind of medical care he is trained to do, lavishing 24-hour availability and personalized attention on his handpicked patients. And at last, he is earning a significant income, no longer burdened by falling reimbursements from insurance companies. But this idyllic practice comes to a grinding halt one sunny afternoon and gets much, much worse.

Enter Dr. Jack Stapleton, a medical examiner in New York City and Bowman's brother-in-law: Jack's sister Alexis, now Craig's estranged wife, tearfully begs for his help as her husband's trial drags on. Jack agrees to travel to Boston to offer his forensic services and expert witness experience to Craig's beleaguered defense attorney. But when Jack's irreverent suggestion to exhume the corpse to disprove the alleged malpractice is taken seriously, he opens a Pandora's box of trouble. As Craig Bowman's life and career are put on the line, Jack is on the verge of making a most unwelcome discovery of tremendous legal and medical significance; and there are people who will do anything to keep him from learning the truth.

Enjoy Robin Cook thrillers read by George Guidall? Then don't miss Marker.

©2006 Robin Cook (P)2006 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., and Recorded Books, LLC

Lots of audio glitches

This is a great story that keeps you interested. The reading was fine. Lots of skipped sections and repeated sentences. More than the usual glitches

Skip this one

I typically love all of the novels with Jack and Laurie....but not this one. The pace of the novel was excruciatingly slow. I often found myself forwarding through some of the drawn out court proceedings. I didn't care for the narrator either.

Unsatisfying

This book missed the mark in so many ways. The pace was slow -- even with a excellent reader. Some of the main characters were so inconsistent that the narrative lacked conviction. Why did they do what they did? Why didn't they do other things? I have always enjoyed this author's books before, but this was a huge disappointment.

Crisis by Robin Cook

What a snore!!! What happened to Robin Cook? This book is one of the worst books I've ever read. Too descriptive and redundant. Not much plot. Waste of my time.

Dreadful, boring, narration awful

The plot is predictable, the pace glacial, the narrator boring and pedantic and the ending obvious halfway through the book. In short there is nothing to recommend this book.

Indeed, this is one of the few cases when I think I would probably have preferred the abridged version--at least I would have been bored for a shorter time and the pace might have seemed a tad less glacial.

I Kept Waiting for it to Get Better (It Didn't)

What an awful convoluted story Full of $20 words and too much pretension. The story is not believable in the least, and the ending is abysmal. Although the narrator is highly acclaimed, based on the 2 books I've listened to with him narrate, I cannot figure out why. His voice is nasal and irritating. He has no sense of regional/cultural accents and when he tries they come out all wrong. Others have said good things about this author. I think I will pass him by after listening to this book. I will also avoid audiobooks narrated by George Guidall.

Not a typical Robin Cook novel

Disappointing. Stilted writing, perhaps not so apparent until read aloud. Several exciting passages, but mostly average.

Good book

Very suspenseful and kept me listening.

Will the real Robin Cook please stand up!

Robin started out with a bang with his edge-of-the-seat medical mysteries. You would hold your breath waiting for the next moment. So I ask you, did he really write this book? It was worse than awful, it was horribly awful. Add to that a probably very nice, but awful narrator, and it is a waste of money. The narrator read as though he had just gotten out of bed and really didn't want to, and the story was so dull, it was all I could do to finish it. Cook throws in medical terms and explains them and I think he should have written a medical dictionary, rather than a book of fiction. Actually, it is sad that someone who started out with thrillers that were exceptional, should be reduced to struggling with plots that have no meaning. And as for the characters, why would anyone want to save a doctor who no one likes, including the author and the reader? My personal opinion is - don't waste your money.

I should have read the reviews

Robin Cook's foray into legal mystery was a failure. His courtroom diaglogue and judicial rulings didn't seem plausible. These legal proceedings went on in excruciating detail to make sure that it was clear (for the obtuse) that it was a hopeless predicament. It made me wonder several times what purpose they served to advance the plot or prepare for the conclusion. The ending was sudden and did not answer questions about why certain events had occurred during the story (how does a narcissus suddenly become a sociopath?). It seemed as though the author had rewritten the ending in response to a deadline or at the insistence of an editor. All of this was made worse by an epilogue