Host

By: Robin Cook

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's Summary

The explosive new thriller from New York Times best-selling author and master of the medical thriller, Robin Cook.

Lynn Peirce, a fourth-year medical student at South Carolina's Mason-Dixon University, thinks she has her life figured out. But when her otherwise healthy boyfriend, Carl, enters the hospital for routine surgery, her neatly ordered life is thrown into total chaos. Carl fails to return to consciousness after the procedure, and an MRI confirms brain death.

Devastated by Carl's condition, Lynn searches for answers. Convinced there's more to the story than what the authorities are willing to reveal, Lynn uses all her resources at Mason-Dixon - including her initially reluctant lab partner, Michael Pender - to hunt down evidence of medical error or malpractice.

What she uncovers, however, is far more disturbing. Hospitals associated with Middleton Healthcare, including the Mason-Dixon Medical Center, have unnervingly high rates of unexplained anesthetic complications and patients contracting serious and terminal illness in the wake of routine hospital admissions.

When Lynn and Michael begin to receive death threats, they know they're into something bigger than either of them anticipated. They soon enter a desperate race against time for answers before shadowy forces behind Middleton Healthcare and their partner, Sidereal Pharmaceuticals, can put a stop to their efforts once and for all.

©2015 Robin Cook (P)2015 Penguin Audio

I've read this before...

Back in high school I read a book called Coma. The whole time I read this book "Host", I couldn't help thinking I've read this same plot before. I know it is the same author and I don't know if his other books since "Coma" are as similar as this one is, but I always felt one step ahead of what was going on. Yes, there are tense moments and it is written well for a medical mystery (a lot of medical jargon thrown in which I didn't understand all that well). And I guess if you haven't read "Coma" then you might enjoy and be surprised. I wasn't. The narrator does a fine job. I

Can you say "Coma"??????

This book is almost an exact duplicate of Coma. I was disappointed in the story line, the characters and basically the whole premise. Save your credit!

coma 2.0

2015 version of Coma, good story but literally the exact same plot. At least he left room for a sequel

Couldn't finish

The dialogue between the two main characters with the sis and bro was too much. I feel like the author tried too hard to characterize Michael as black and it ruined the story for me. The overt stereotyping to not be the stereotype was too much. Why can't Micheal just be a successful black medical student like Lynne? There wasn't a constant reference to her being white. The author is very talented , but I just couldn't finish this one.

Entertaining but not too original

Probably because I listen too every one of Robin Cook's books (I started with COMA years ago), I am starting to see a "pattern" to his books. Each story follows a similar "script", so along the way, parts of the book are very predictable. Having said that, I still like Robin Cook. He may not be my favorite author, but he is way up there. In this book, there is a little too much stretching of realism. The way that two medical students are able to make their way around the hospital system and get what ever information they want lacks realism. I sometimes felt that the story was too "accommodating" in that a lot of events were simply too convenient, but were necessary for the story to proceed. The way that the bad guys infiltrated the anesthesia system for their evil deeds was just a little too far-fetched. As usual, a conspiracy of hospital personnel was necessary in order to facilitate the evil-doing. I don't mind stretching the imagination to advance the plot, but I thought parts of this story were a little too convenient. I would recommend this book, but the listener has to realize it requires a vivid imagination and not too much questioning of the lack of realism.

Revisit to Coma and performance week!

Did not like the male voice reading a book basically centered about a female main character. It was also too much like the earlier book Coma. Anyway listened to it all luckily while walking the dog on the beach every morning.

Not Robin Cook's best

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I enjoyed this book, because I like all Robin Cook's books. This one was not spellbinding, and was predictable.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Maybe a little more intrigue, a little more suspense.

Disappointing

Uncharacteristically factually inaccurate, biased,and predictable. I have been a fan for 20 years until now.

Sounds familiar.

This medical conspiracy is a predictable read but the performer is difficult to listen to. Although accents are spot on, his sentences are mostly interrupted by his need to breathe. Because of this it takes much longed

Average, with goofy dialogue.

The medical component was interesting but the way the story played out was not particularly creative. The banter between the two main characters was pretty bad.