NYC OFFICE: 212-725-7707
SANDI MENDELSON: [email protected]
#1 New York Times–bestselling author, Robin Cook is widely credited with introducing the word “medical” to the thriller genre. Over thirty-five years ago, he changed the public’s image of medicine with his breakthrough novel Coma, andcontinues to dominate the category he created while uncannily presaging serious medical issues. In Cook’s latest and 33rd novel, CELL (G.P. Putnam’s Sons; February 4, 2014), he returns with a top-notch fusion of edge-of-your-seat suspense and ground breaking medical science. Cook is once again at the forefront of medical technology by predicting an imminent change in the entire healthcare paradigm just when healthcare reform (the Affordable Care Act or ACA aka Obamacare) is being implemented.
CELLdelves into today’s tech-savvy world, where many new things are possible. Healthcare innovations and discoveries are not only happening rapidly, but changing daily. And your entire medical history can fit neatly into the palm of your hand…
Industry giant Amalgamated Healthcare has developed an amazing healthcare advancement: a cellphone app named iDoc. This app works as a fully customizable personal physician capable of diagnosing and treating even better than a real, live doctor. It can monitor your personal wellness, remind you to take medicines as needed, and instruct you on how to take the best care of yourself. It’s like fitting your own personal physician right in your pocket and carrying that doctor with you wherever you go.
iDoc is more than just a personal doctor. It’s networked to all the other users who have downloaded the app, which allows it to learn, to grow, to diagnose more accurately, to determine and monitor treatment, and to collect and analyze health data. But what happens when iDoc begins to execute its duties too well? In CELL we learn that technology like this comes at a price.
George Wilson, M.D, was a twenty-nine year old radiology resident in Los Angeles, happily engaged to the woman of his dreams, until he woke up one morning to find her dead in the bed next to him. His nightmare has just begun, as a series of patients he’s connected to begin to suddenly die. A deadly game of cat and mouse ensues, as George digs deeper into the mysterious circumstances, finding a pattern with the deceased. All of them were participating in the same iDoc beta test and had recently received life threatening diagnoses. But none of them should have died yet. And when George discovers that even his late fiancée was using iDoc to treat her medical problems, the mystery deepens further. Could iDoc be a lifesaver for some people and a curse for others?
George is determined to find the answers. But a frightening number of wealthy—and very powerful—people are heavily invested in making sure iDoc succeeds. To them, these deaths are just a “glitch,” a small inconvenience on the path to a greater goal. As they see it, iDoc’s success is not only essential…it’s inevitable. And a few more deaths, including George’s, will not stop them.
CELL imagines a future that Robin Cook believes is imminent and has already started, thanks to a confluence of advances in informational technology, nanotechnology, and genomics. But it also holds dangerous implications, most notably, what happens when the “human” element is taken out of patient care? This brings up many questions, such as what are the dangers and benefits of these advancements? How far should we allow mobile health technology to go? And of particular current relevance, what will the future of this technology bring within the context of the ACA?
With an up-to-the-minute, cutting-edge take on the medical industry of today—and the near future—thisis Robin Cook’s most gripping thriller yet. Just as Coma launched the bestselling medical-thriller genre, CELL redefines it for the 21st century…and will leave readers breathless.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in Brooklyn, New York, doctor and author Robin Cook graduated summa cum laude from Wesleyan University with a major in chemistry and a distinction in government. He then attended Columbia University Medical School, before serving in the United States Navy and rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. After his stint in the military, Cook began his ophthalmology residency at Harvard. He debuted his first medical thriller, Coma, in 1977, and since then, he has written more than 30 others, becoming recognized worldwide as the master of the medical thriller genre. In 2002, he was awarded the “Author of Vision” distinction from the RP International organization, and in 2004, President George W. Bush appointed him to the Woodrow Wilson Board of Trustees. Wesleyan University honored him with a Distinguished Alumni Award in 1982 and the McConaughy Award in 2012 for his writing. He is currently on leave from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and divides his time between Florida, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.