Contagion (Jack Stapleton & Laurie Montgomery series Book 2)

Manhatten General Hospital seems to be a dangerous place to be hospitalized in. During a ninety-six hour period nine people have succumbed to not one, not two but three extremely rare diseases, especially for New York City. Jack Stapleton is the New York city Medical Examiner who discovered these occurrences in the course of performing autopsies upon the victims and while no one has questioned the natural occurrence of these deadly, highly infectious diseases, Jack eventually comes to the conclusion that these events are too much of a coincidence to be accidental.Contagion was written by a prolific writer named Robin Cook. If you are not familiar with Cook you should be. He is the unquestioned king of the medical mystery/suspense genre, having written well over twenty such books, dating back to the seventies. If you happen to remember the scary movie Coma, that was Robin Cook.With not one but three different extremely rare pathogens killing patients at the New York hospital, Stapleton suspects it's more than just coincidence. But Jack can't seem to get anybody's attention, especially at the Hospital itself where the management even resents and has barred his presence. This leads Jack to suspect there may be a connection between the mysterious microbes responsible for the deaths and the HMO that owns the hospital, Americare, the same HMO that once destroyed his flourishing medical practice. However Jack is unable to convince his friends and co-workers Chet and Laurie or his bosses that these occurrences are being orchestrated, even after a deadly form of Influenza makes an appearance killing many more patients and hospital staff.Could Americare deliberately killing off its sickest patients - those who cost the most money to treat? If not, is there an even more dastardly motive behind the mysterious happenings at Manhattan General, and what about the sudden attempts on Jack's life by members of a black gang who surprisingly rescued by members of another black gang?CONCLUSIONContagion is a fun read, one that, as commonly happens with an intriguing book, I kept finding reasons to to read when I should be doing other things. Though Cook is known to throw in a generous dose of medical terms I forgive him, it is after all a MEDICAL THRILLER! Other than that his writing is fluid and user friendly, though sometimes a little weak when it comes to character development, and his fulminations about the dangers of managed care tend to compete with the plot. Still, to his credit, Cook doesn't try to overwhelm you with his obvious intellect. He writes to be understood and appreciated by the masses.Speaking of the plot, Cook manages to instill a little bi-racial tolerance by having his protagonist (Jack)living in a flat in Harlem and becoming a basketball buddy with Warren, the imposing leader of a black gang. Coincidently another black gang is hired first to scare then to kill Jack and the interplay between good and bad black guys was a nice touch. In fact there were many nice touches which overcame some weaknesses which, to me, became evident toward the end of the book. But even though I questioned the improbable rational for the murders, I was totally surprised by the identity of of the perps.Beware, Contagion may make you think twice about going to the hospital short of anything life threatening.

I bought this book because I had seen the recent movie titled 'Contagion' and thought that the two were one and the same. I was not particularly impressed with the movie but I always tend to enjoy the books more and the movie felt as if it were missing something so I decided to give this a chance. I'm glad I did because the book was nothing like the movie other than being about an epidemic. I enjoyed this story very much, although there were some minor instances where what I had just read didn't seem right. (Mostly near the end concerning the character 'Warren'.) As the end of the book approached, I had already guessed one of the two characters responsible but was completely surprised when the second one turned out to be someone I had not even given much thought to. I enjoy a good puzzle and this was a fun one!****Because some people like to use the reviews of others as a forum to insult, personally attack and/or be overly mean-spirited, I must post this disclaimer:Attempting to create or add to the discussion is appreciated. However, if you disagree with something I've written then please try politely disagreeing & backing it up with points as to why you disagree. I understand that not everyone will agree with or like what I have to say but disrespect, personal attacks of any kind, name calling, & diatribes will be reported as abuse."[You] must respect the opinions of others even if [you] disagree with them." - Herbert Henry Lehman

I bought this book because the movie looked good and I like to read the book before I watch the movie. Ok, really what pushed me over the edge to purchase was the review about how awful the dialogue between the doctor and the gangs was. Oh, and it was awful! I was certainly entertained. I did not find it too technical as others complained. I didn't like the ending much. I felt like the first half of the story had momentum, then the author never took the story as far as it could have gone. I'd recommend this book only as what it is: an airport read for when you don't want to think too much and want a little action. While I usually go for something a little deeper, I did enjoy reading this. The four stars is because it was somewhat entertaining, and is not related to quality of writing. I'd read another of these when I want to rest my mind.Update - I have now seen the movie. The movie is NOTHING like the book.

I enjoyed the story but the dialogue was terrible.

You can't put it down because you want to see what happens next. Time flies as you read. Loved it!!

I found the concept interesting with covid going on. There were a few plot holes and twists that were a jump of logic but I enjoyed the book. Well written and certainly makes me think "What if?"

Like most of Robin Cook’s books, I find myself looking up words for their meaning and how to pronounce them since I don’t have a medical background. This is a good one if you are wondering whether to read it or not.

Contagion was a good read but I expected more about the "contagion" part than the exploits of Jack Stapleton. It never seemed like there was any real epidemic - they all stopped before too many died and it was about Jack racing around from hospital to hospital, fighting off intruders and playing basketball. Would not recommend.

This book came up when I was looking up the film 'Contagion'. This book has nothing to do with the film. I found the content unbelievable and technically doubtful as a Microbiologist. I thought the book was rather old fashioned as all the female characters where described in terms of their figures and clothes. Apart from that I quite liked it.

A good read, I enjoyed. A bit slow in places, and I did not see the twist coming. Well paced thriller with great real characters. I will certainly be reading more of this author's work..

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - the characters were interesting and I was pulling for them. A good amount of action and intrigue and for a book about outbreaks of horrible diseases there was very little gruesome details. I plan on reading the others in the series.

Again... Robin Cook does write books around medical stories but I like them. His stories has enough suspense and thrill to keep me hooked and think about it until I finish reading it.This story was good and had a lot of twists and turns and an excellent suspense. Recommended.

Hooked from the beginning with a rich narrative andlikable characters. The twists in the plot are unexpected and clever and made for a thoroughly enjoyable read