[Book Review] ‘Charlatans’ by Robin Cook

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert Brian “Robin” Cook, who is popularly known as Robin Cook, is an American physician who mainly focuses on medical writing in the thriller genre. Born in Queens in New York, Cook’s writing style seems to sweep his readers off their feet as a majority of his books have entered The New York Times’ Best Seller List. Having worked in the medical industry, he has a fair amount of knowledge, which can be witnessed in his writing. Cook started his career with his book The Year of the Intern, which was written while he was underwater in Kamehameha in the year 1972.

REVIEW

Ultimately, it is what the public wants, meaning an easy way out by taking a few pills.

The word “Charlatans” refers to someone that claims to have some sort of skill that they do not actually possess. Dr. Noah Rothauser bags the position of the chief surgery resident in Boston Memorial Hospital, which is a teaching hospital. Bruce Vincent, who is the head of security, undergoes a hernia surgery and dies during it, in addition to two other patients, including a 12-year-old boy who needed his appendix removed and an overweight woman who had a leg injury. Noah is naïve and a walking contradiction to say the least, as he defends Dr. Ava London despite the fact that she was the anesthesiologist in all of the three cases. She is rather odd and is seen fumbling with medical equipment every now and then. She chooses not to talk to her colleagues and spends a majority of her time on social media hoping to gain fame. Things get out of control when Noah falls head over heels in love with her and chooses to ignore every fault of hers. However, William Mason, an expert surgeon, wants to get rid of her. Noah soon finds out that Ava is not who she claims to be and can actually get anyone killed who gets in her way.

He decides to hire a private investigator to dig out more details about her past, personal life, professional background and medical credentials, but Ava seems to be exceptionally good at hiding every minute aspect of her life. She goes on to threaten Noah and he realizes that she can go as far as ruining his career and assassinating him.

Robin Cook’s writing style is quite exquisite and unique. Even though the book drags along several issues and hospital politics in the first half of the book, the pace picks up in the second half and goes on to become lightning-fast in the end. The characters aren’t well-sketched, especially Ava, who seems plainly uninterested and static. On the contrary, Noah comes across as genuine, authentic, hard-working and intelligent.

The book revolves around questionable operating procedures and medical practices. It definitely draws the reader’s attention toward some hard-hitting facts. Cook’s writing style is also laden with medical terminology, which is extremely intriguing, especially for a layman.