Robin Cook - Terminal

The Forbes Cancer Center in Miami is experiencing unprecedented cure rates for patients stricken with medulloblastoma. 
Sean Murphy, a bright, brash, Harvard medical student, takes an elective at the center to learn as much as he can about the procedures and treatments. The icy atmosphere that greets him, coupled with a warning to stay away from the unit in question, fuels Sean's determination to discover why everything is veiled in such secrecy. To carry out his investigation, he enlists the help of his girlfriend, Janet Reardon, a nurse. 
These self-appointed detectives find themselves chased by a variety of factions and in trouble with the law before unearthing the horrible truth.

Comment: This is one of the standalone medical stories created by author Robin Cook. Although the

isn't an author I cannot wait to read again, I do like the ideas behind his stories and since this was available at the library, I brought it with me last time I was there.

In this novel we meet protagonist Sean Murphy, a young medicine student who is very interested in certain researches related to cancer and how to get close to cure it. That is why he decides to accept an internship in Miami, where a medical center has shown incredible results in treating several cases of meduloblastoma, one type of brain cancer.

However, Sean isn't included in the studies he thought he would be doing and he starts to regret his decision to go to Florida. However, after his girlfriend joins him there to be a nurse, he starts to notice some apparently unrelated situations do have something in common after all and it al points to a very shocking possibility...

I think the books by Robin Cook can be classified into different sub types within the medical field: we have the disturbing shocking ones (like Brain), the closely seen as flawed comedies (like this one) and the ones pertaining situations not directly related to medicine (like Abduction).

I suppose it depends on people's acceptance of impossibilities and even a very good suspension of belief to also enjoy the serious flaws in the writing itself.

This book, for me, felt like a bad comedy at times. The protagonists can so easily and so often surpass obstacles to their actions as if it's easy as breathing when reality is certainly a lot more complex. Add to this we also have a secondary plot partly related to medicine that is there to offer something to confuse the reader but which I only saw as unnecessary. 

This means there's the main plot related to Sean, his girlfriend Janet and the secrets hidden by the facility investigating and "curing" meduloblastomas and the secondary one about Tom, the obviously mentally ill janitor who is on a personal crusade to help some patients stopping suffering.

The fun and interesting parts of the author's books, even the silly doubtful ones, is how the medical situations can feel realistic because of how things are presented. In this one I feel this situation wasn't well accomplished and it does go into the majority of cases already seen in other books: the author isn't a very good writer and cannot mix the plot and the information given in a balanced manner. I feel curious about certain details but not being in the medical field, some things aren't that easy to understand. It's a pity that the information can't be given in a way that would feel much more fluid and believable were the author aware of how to do it.

The explanation for the secrets of the medical center and how the cancer they take credit for treating and curing happens is very interesting and does meet a realistic possibility in this unbalanced world between rich and poor. I wish the focus had been more on this somehow and not in how Sean dodged the "bad guys" or found creative and sometimes funny ways to get himself where he shouldn't. I liked the reasoning behind many ideas and actions but it was difficult to be focused on just that. I can say, though, medicine does get more quickly to some than others and it's scary to think some groups can have it so easy and others nothing at all.

As for the characters, they are all superficially presented, with just bare bones to give us a simple idea of who they are and what drives them. Even the protagonists don't always seem they know what they are doing nor are they always easy to sympathize with and I suppose the characterization and personality of the characters was a detail the author perhaps thought unimportant but then it's hard to root for someone you cannot bond with somehow.

All in all, this was a so-so read. There were details I liked, others I didn't but in the end of things, despite the obvious flaws, it was entertaining to read this story and I'll certainly read more by the author one day.

Grade: 7/10