Coma

Bright young medical student Susan Wheeler has earned a place at Boston Memorial, the top teaching hospital in the region. On her very first day she finds herself coping with her own nerves, different treatment because of her gender, and an eerie sense of identification with a young woman in a coma. When the next patient she comes into contact with inexplicably ends up in a similar condition, Susan jeopardizes her budding medical career, and eventually her life, to investigate the incidents. r/>
This thriller, written in 1977 is definitely dated in some of the basic attitudes towards women (Susan is mad that she will never have a wife to look after her?) and the constant harping on emotionalism as a female trait - although the author show more does show men throwing fits like little toddlers, I find the strange scientific method/rational approach Susan is supposed to have according to the author doesn't fit with her actions at all.

Actually her actions make no sense (I know it's a thriller, but she goes on a crusade on her very first day?). She skips class and her responsibilities to go find out the problem despite her utter lack of experience? I would have bought it if she investigated in her free time, but I think on the first day she would have been too intimidated to step out of line that much and not likely to jeopardize her entire career - she would likely be very aware of how little she knew... The timeline itself was quite ridiculous. They kick her out of the hospital after a mere two days?

There are some other irksome aspects. I hate it when male authors have female main characters. They must always be beautiful, smart but insecure in their femininity, and we must always listen to at least one of the male characters go into raptures about her breasts. It's a medical thriller, I want to know what the hell is going on, I don't need the mirror scene in which the character examines herself naked for the author's enjoyment...

It was definitely dated. The story's premise was fairly cool, but the timeline, the approach toward women, etc. just makes things awkward to read now. show less

They called it "minor surgery," but Nancy Greenly, Sean Berman and a dozen others--all admitted to Boston Memorial Hospital for routine procedures--were victims of the same inexplicable, hideous tragedy on the operating table. They never woke up.
Susan Wheeler is a third-year medical student working as a trainee at Boston Memorial Hospital. Two patients during her residency mysteriously go into comas immediately after their operations due to complications from anesthesia. Susan begins to investigate the causes behind both of these alarming comas and discovers the oxygen line in Operating Room 8 has been tampered with to induce carbon monoxide poisoning.
Then Susan discovers the evil nature of the Jefferson Institute, an intensive care show more facility where patients are suspended from the ceiling and kept alive until they can be harvested for healthy organs. Is she a participant in--or a victim of--a large-scale black market dealing in human organs? show less

الغيبوبة للكاتب روبين كوك

بدأت في قراءتها اليوم و لكنني ما إن وصلت إلي منتصف الكتاب حتى شعرت بالحزن فجو القصة مشحون بالمشاعر السلبية و التوتر الشديد الذي يعاني منه الأطباء في أقسام الطوارئ و أقسام الجراحة و هذا ما يدعوني إلي التعاطف معهم و تقدير عملهم العظيم الصعب من أجل إنقاذ أرواح المرضى و ما حدث بعد ذلك رهيب و مثير فالنصف الثاني من القصة رائع مما جعلني اقيمها بخمسة نقاط من خمسة

الغيبوبة للكاتب روبين كوك

بدأت في قراءتها اليوم و لكنني ما إن وصلت إلي منتصف الكتاب حتى شعرت بالحزن فجو القصة مشحون بالمشاعر السلبية و التوتر الشديد الذي يعاني منه الأطباء في أقسام الطوارئ و أقسام الجراحة و هذا ما يدعوني إلي التعاطف معهم و تقدير عملهم العظيم الصعب من أجل إنقاذ أرواح المرضى و ما حدث بعد ذلك رهيب و مثير فالنصف الثاني من القصة رائع مما جعلني اقيمها بخمسة نقاط من خمسة

I have only read one Robin Cook book before this, Vital Signs. I was not impressed by that book, however I got this as a hand me down and thought that I would give this author another chance.

I will say that this is better. The main flaw I notice in both books is that he tends to not always think certain plot points, so they're left hanging at the end of the book, but this book was definitely a tighter read. Mr. Cook knows his medicine, as he is himself a doctor.

The basic plot boils down to this - people are being forced into a coma so their organs can be harvested and sold. In itself this is a plausible plot, and there is an author's note at the back of the book explaining this more in depth. All in all it's not a bad book, it's just show more that the storytelling could have been a bit better. show less

Amazon sent an email letting me know that this was $1.99 for a day and so I grabbed it with a vague memory of having read numerous Robin Cook books at some point in the 90's. Reviewing Goodreads, the only ones I'd marked as read were [b:Vital Signs|85440|Vital Signs (Dr. Marissa Blumenthal, #2)|Robin Cook|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1315514913s/85440.jpg|2771378] and [b:Terminal|129091|Terminal|Robin Cook|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1399769116s/129091.jpg|124332] although, I've probably read more.

Coma is definitely a snapshot of its time period, with ash trays in the doctor's lounges, overtly sexist attitudes and punch card fed mainframes. But there's also a ton that's familiar from watching so many seasons of ER, Gray's show more Anatomy and such. The pronunciation of drugs, the hierarchy of a teaching hospital and plenty else.

I don't read pure thrillers that much. And the reissue cover material claims that this was the first medical thriller. There was a really stark line between the medical and the thriller. Roughly the first half was a fairly interesting medical procedural with a growing mystery and the second half was an over the top conspiracy thriller. There's an almost alternate history feel to reading a near future thriller like this 40 years later.

I think my biggest pet peeve was the sloppy head hopping. We see motivations for certain characters as the main character would, even when we're momentarily not seeing things from her point of view. Led to some idiot plotting but it probably could have been worse.

It holds up as a thriller, even though it suffers from a crazy abrupt ending. show less

John Stefanovitch (Stef), is a good, strong, believable character who rebounds from a brutal attack that leaves him in a wheelchair to take down St. Germain (the Grave Dancer) who organized the ambush in which Stef was injured and who killed Stef's wife.

We catch up with Stef two years after the ambush. He has returned to his job on the NYPD and is still determined to bring the Grave Dancer down and to fight against organized crime. Stef is smart and tough and in no way a victim. Sarah, a true-crime writer who is writing a book about the Midnight Club, a group of organized crime leaders, is also a good, strong character and is more than a match for Stef.

The story was alright and had a lot of potential, but I got a bit confused at times show more with all the different villains to keep track off. My biggest problem though was that I could not relate to any of the lead characters. I think the book could have been a lot better if I did. show less