List $39.95

Written by Robin Cook - Audio book performed by George Guidall - Unabridged Fiction - 10 COMPACT DISCS - 12 hours

Publisher, Penguin Audio (August 5, 2008)

Listen to an MP3 audio clip.

A series of unexplained deaths in foreign hospitals sends an idealistic UCLA medical student on a desperate search for answers, in this chilling tale from the master of the medical thriller.

Jennifer Hernandez is a fourth-year medical student at UCLA, just completing an elective in general surgery, whose world is shattered during a break in an otherwise ordinary day. While relaxing in the surgical lounge of L.A.’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, she half-listens to a piece on medical tourism, where first-world citizens travel to third-world countries for surgery. But when she hears her beloved grandmother’s name mentioned, her own heart nearly stops: the CNN reporter says Maria Suarez-Hernandez had died, a day after undergoing a hip replacement in New Delhi’s Queen Victoria Hospital.

Maria had raised Jennifer and her brothers from infancy, and their bond was unshakable. Still, the news that Maria had traveled to India was a shock to Jennifer, until she realized that it was the only viable option for the hardworking yet uninsured woman. Devastated, and desperate for answers, Jennifer takes emergency leave from school and heads to India, where relations with local officials go from sympathetic to sour as she presses for more information. With the discovery of other unexplained deaths followed by hasty cremations, Jennifer reaches out to her mentor, New York City medical examiner Dr. Laurie Montgomery, who has her own deep connection to Maria.

Laurie, along with her husband, Dr. Jack Stapleton, rushes to the younger woman’s side, discovering a sophisticated medical facility with little margin for error. As the death count grows, so do the questions, leading Laurie and Jennifer to unveil a sinister, multilayered conspiracy of global proportions.

About the Author: Doctor and author Robin Cook is widely credited with introducing the word “medical” to the thriller genre, and twenty-five years after the publication of his breakthrough novel, Coma, he continues to dominate the category he created. Cook has successfully combined medical fact with fantasy to produce a succession of New York Times bestsellers, including Outbreak (1987), Mindbend (1988), Mutation (1989), Harmful Intent (1990), Vital Signs (1991), Blindsight (1992), Terminal (1993), Fatal Cure (1994), Acceptable Risk (1995), Contagion (1996), Chromosome 6 (1997), Toxin (1998) and Vector (1999).

In each of his novels, Robin Cook strives to write about issues at the forefront of current medical practice. To date, he has explored issues such as organ donation, genetic engineering, in vitro fertilization, research funding, managed care, drug research, and organ transplantation. In Shock, Cook reaches the crossroads of medical technology and ethics by uncovering secrets of a fertility clinic.

Cook says he chose to write thrillers because the form gives him “an opportunity to get the public interested in things about medicine they didn’t seem to know about. I believe my books are actually teaching people.”

Coma was made into a successful feature film, and Cook’s novels have also been made into television productions. In December 1993, CBS-TV aired “Robin Cook’s Harmful Intent”; in November 1994, NBC-TV aired “Robin Cook’s Mortal Fear”; in May 1995, NBC-TV aired “Robin Cook’s Virus,” based on Outbreak; and in February 1996 NBC-TV aired “Robin Cook’s Terminal.” In addition to 1997’s “Robin Cook’s Invasion,” NBC-TV has two other Cook novels in production.

Robin Cook is a graduate of Columbia University Medical School and finished his postgraduate medical training at Harvard. He is currently on leave from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He divides his time between homes in Boston and Florida.

About the Performer: George Guidall is one of the foremost narrators in the audiobook industry, having recorded more t eight hundred unabridged novels. His forty-year career includes leading roles on and off Broadway and num­erous appearances on film and television. He has won an Obie for best performance.