Marker

Starred review from April 25, 2005
The bestselling 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 (last seen in 1999's Vector
) in this gripping medical chiller. Childless and facing her 43rd birthday, Laurie moves out when Jack, still traumatized by the accidental deaths of his wife and children over a decade ago, refuses to talk marriage and babies. They've still got to work together at the office of the chief medical examiner, though, and it's there that Laurie's charged with autopsying the bodies of two people who died after minor surgeries at the same Manhattan hospital. As similar deaths mount up, Laurie struggles to convince Jack et al. that something's fishy. (Early on, a shadow plot introduces homicidal hospital employee Jasmine Rakoczi and Mr. Bob, the mastermind of a sinister but undefined plot to "sanction" selected patients using an undetectable medical agent.) Laurie's superiors forbid her to discuss her suspicions with anyone outside the OCME, but she disobeys these orders when she meets the dreamboat chief of medicine at the hospital in question and successfully engages his interest in her theory that a serial killer is on the loose. The body count climbs as another hospital is involved and political pressure mounts to suppress information. True love runs a rocky course, and the plot thickens before the denouement crackles to an electric edge-of-the-seat finale. Agent, Lynn Nesbit.

January 1, 2005
In his 25th case, the good doctor brings back Dr. Laurie Montgomery and Dr. Jack Stapleton (e.g., Vector) to figure out why so many healthy young people are dying in standard surgery.

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2005
Cook's twenty-fifth medical thriller revisits medical examiners Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery, whose romantic relationship has hit a major bump. Approaching her forty-third birthday, Laurie wants a family and has grown impatient with Jack's reluctance to commit. She walks out on Jack, but she can't avoid him at work. She soon finds herself absorbed in a puzzling case: 28-year-old Sean McGillan has landed on her table, and she can't determine what killed him. Sean had just undergone routine knee surgery, but she can't find any reason why he went into cardiac arrest in his hospital bed. When another young, seemingly healthy patient dies, she suspects foul play. She finds an ally in Dr. Roger Rosseau, the chief of the medical staff at Manhattan General, who takes a personal interest in Laurie, who has medical problems of her own: she might be carrying the genetic marker for breast cancer. When the death toll at Manhattan General increases, Laurie and Jack are consumed with the mystery even as their continued involvement in the investigation places them in peril. Fans of Cook's previous thrillers will be happy to see the return of two popular characters.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)