Nano (edition 2012)

I've really enjoyed some Robin Cook novels, but others just didn't resonate with me. This was one of the latter. Set in a high-tech industrial research & development environment, he lays out an intriguing situation and interesting characters and offers some useful information about the nature and promise of nanotechnology. But then he loses control of the book. The protagonist proceeds from one perilous situation to another, while the inscrutable Chinese who are bankrolling the illegal and unethical human experiments are also scheming to steal the company from the protagonist's boss . . . and the boss has the hots for the protagonist.
I did finish the book, but the last hour or so of reading it could have been better spent ironing my gym socks. ( )

A techno-medical-corporate drama incorporating the usual unsuspecting doctor. In this case, it is Pia, from his last book, who is taking time off doing working at a research lab in Colorado. She comes across a runner who had a cardiac arrest while out jogging. From that the suspense and intrigue emerges. The book is suspenseful, but tends to drag in the last third. The last ten pages has a surprise ending. It does lend itself to a followup. Any Robin Cook fan, for better or for worse, would enjoy this. ( )

I have read all of Robin Cook's books and have generally liked them but, this book was the exception. I thought the author took too long to develop the storyline and it really didn't get exciting until the last 1/3 of the book. Plus *SPOILER ALERT* Pia didn't get saved at the end so, this allows Cook to write another book in this series as this was a sequel to Death Benefit, his last book. I wouldn't recommend this book or the one before this one, although, I thought Death Benefit was the better book. ( )

Never met a nanotech thriller I didn’t like—until now

Michael Crichton’s novel Prey opened the possibilities of nanotechnology to me. Sure the plot was preposterous, but I devoured both the fiction and the fact, and I couldn’t stop turning the pages! Subsequently, I’ve taken great pleasure in other nano-thrillers such as Nano by John Robert Marlow, Plague Year (and its sequels) by Jeff Carlson, and most recently, Spiral by Paul McEuen. I enjoyed each of these novels immensely, and so was looking forward to Dr. Cook’s take on the subject.

It is unsurprising that his interest in the science of nanotechnology is from a medical perspective. The protagonist of Nano is Pia Grazdani, who some readers met in Cook’s prior novel Death Benefits. I am not among those readers, but I don’t believe that additional familiarity with the lady would have helped Cook’s cause. I found her a truly unlikable protagonist to build a novel (or series?) around. Diagnosed with attachment disorder due to her traumatic upbringing, she’s a cold fish indeed. Consequently, no matter how intelligent and beautiful she was, I found it truly difficult that she was so sought after for friendship and romance. I did not enjoy my time in her company at all.

And perhaps I could have overlooked that—after all, Mr. Crichton’s novels were not known for their cozy characters—if the plot or the science had carried me away. I’m sad to say that this was a three strikes situation. Pia has graduated from med school, but rather than enter residence and get her license to practice, she has (wisely) turned towards the research side of the field. She’s doing very well at Nano, LLC, working on original research into microbivores, microscopic bots that can function almost as an auxiliary immune system.

Now, you know how readers are always kvetching about too much science in these books? I’m the reader that says, “Give me more! And a bibliography at the back!” Therefore, it is saying something when I tell you that in Dr. Cook’s hands this fascinating science is a snooze. Seriously, I don’t know how he did it.

Things briefly perk up when Pia stumbles across an apparently lifeless body on the company grounds—and then manages to revive him. After which the corporation all but kidnaps the man in order to keep hospital doctors from running further tests on him. But truthfully, none of it was very interesting, very believable, or very well plotted. The final insult is the novel’s utter lack of resolution.

Oh, Dr. Cook, I grew up reading you. I have such fond memories! Is it you that’s changed, or is it me? Whoever it is, we’ve grown apart. And you, my friend, have jumped the shark. ( )