Book description
It's been more than thirty years since New York City medical examiner
Jack Stapleton's college graduation and almost as long since he's been
in touch with former classmates Shawn Doherty and Kevin Murray. Once a
highly regarded ophthalmologist, Jack's career took a dramatic turn
after a tragic accident that destroyed his family. But that, too, is
very much in the past: Jack has remarried-to long-time colleague and
fellow medical examiner Laurie Montgomery- and is the father of a young
child.
A post-mortem on a young college student who had recently been treated
by a chiropractor, leads Jack to investigate alternative medicine. What
makes some people step outside the medical establishment to seek care
from practitioners of Eastern philosophies and even faith healers?
Jack's classmate Shawn Doherty is now a renowned archaeologist and
biblical scholar at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. He has
recently obtained permission for a final dig beneath Saint Peter's in
Rome-despite a long-standing grudge against the Catholic Church-and has
made a startling discovery with huge ecclesiastical and medical
implications.
When Kevin Murray, now Bishop of the Archdiocese of New York, gets wind
of Shawn’s findings, he’s desperate to keep them from the public. Kevin
has strong political ambitions within the Church, but his association
with Shawn threatens to undermine them. Kevin turns to his old friend
Jack to help protect an explosive secret-one with the power to change
live forever. Doctor and author Robin Cook is widely credited with
introducing the word ‘medical’ to the thriller genre, and over twenty
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 over twenty-seven
international bestsellers, including Outbreak
(1987), Terminal
(1993), Contagion
(1996), Chromosome 6
(1997) and most recently Foreign Body
(2008).
