Marker

By: Robin Cook

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 16 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Twenty-eight-year-old Sean McGillin is the picture of health, until he fractures his leg while in-line skating in New York City's Central Park. Within 24 hours of his surgery, he dies.

A 36-year-old mother, Darlene Morgan, has knee surgery to repair a torn ligament in her knee. And within 24 hours, she has died.

New York City medical examiners Dr. Laurie Montgomery and Dr. Jack Stapleton are back, in Robin Cook's electrifying 25th novel. Last seen in Vector, the doctors confront a series of puzzling hospital deaths of young, healthy people after successful routine surgery.

Despite institutional resistance from her superiors, as well as from those at Manhattan General, Laurie doggedly pursues the investigation. Though it seems impossible to determine why and how the patients are dying, she comes to suspect that not only are the deaths related, they're intentional, suggesting the work of a remarkably clever serial killer with a very unusual motive, involving frightening ties to both developing genomic medicine and the economics of modern-day health care.

Then Laurie is dealt a double blow: While coping with Jack's inability to commit to their relationship, she discovers she carries a genetic marker for a breast-cancer gene. As her personal life continues to unravel, the need for answers becomes more urgent, especially when Laurie is pulled into the nightmare as a potential victim herself. With time winding down, she and Jack race to connect the dots, and save Laurie's life.

With his signature blend of suspense and science, Robin Cook delivers an electrifying page-turner as vivid as today's headlines.

©2005 Robin Cook (P)2005 Penguin Audio and Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"The best-selling physician/author is in top form as he revisits the love/hate relationship between New York City medical examiners Laurie Montgomery and her lover, Jack Stapleton, in this gripping medical chiller." (Publishers Weekly)

kept me going

Very interesting book this was my first experience with Robin Cook and i'm thinking it won't be my last. Marker keeps you guessing and sitting at the edge of your seat!!

Great story line

Couldn’t put it down! Great read and great mystery. I would highly recommend if you have the time to listen.

Intersting story, stupid ending

Not the best in the series, story was interesting but denouement is hard to believe and written in 2 paragraphs.

Marker

Review of Marker. Well done, excellent knowledge of health care and hospitals. I did enjoy this book.

My Favorite Writer

The drama. The medicine. The thrill. The procedures. The suspense. The characters you love and the ones you hate. Everything is well rounded and I look forward to book 14 as a reRead the series.

Riveting but science fiction

I enjoyed this story, but found much of the hospital scenes unrealistic. I work in a hospital and have never seen people treat patients like many of the hospital staff in these scenes did.

Awesome Book

Loved the narrator, story line and the author. Great listen. Thoroughly enjoyed the book. Must read.

Marker

Great story, a tale of courage and corruptness in the American medical system. Dr. Robin Cook has always been one of my favorite authors and this is one of his best.

Page turner,but...

Robin Cook can write a nice page turner, but it's hard to swallow some of the events of this book. Number one: the protagonists, two MD lovers, both forensic pathologists. She finds out she's pregnant and is quite surpised, even though she and he have been using the rhythm method, notorious for its unreliability - hard to accept that two MDs wouldn't know better. Right at the outset the author lets you know there's a serial killer in the hospital exterminating sleeping patients with IV potassium chloride. We wait while our two somewhat slow-witted (remember the rhythm method)pathologists struggle through endless toxicology tests trying to find the poison in the dead patients. When they turn up nothing, you wonder why they don't think of potassium, a compound that injected in this way would disappear from the blood after death (common knowledge), but these are the guys who still think the rhythm method is a great form of birth control. Other plot elements like managed care as a sinister force and a glaring paper trail of criminal activity are also hard to swallow. But I have to admit I turned all the pages and enjoyed the story.

Good story, not so good narration

Robin Cook did not dissapoint. The storyline kept my interest, but the narration made me want to sleep. The voices for the characters were kind of lame.