Descrizione dell’editore
In this electrifying medical thriller from New York Times bestselling author Robin Cook, a family’s exposure to a rare yet deadly virus ensnares them in a growing danger to mankind—and pulls back the curtain on a healthcare system powered by profit and greed.
Trying to find some normalcy during the Covid-19 pandemic, Brian Murphy and his family are on a summer excursion in Cape Cod when his wife, Emma, comes down with concerning flu-like symptoms. But their leisurely return home to New York City quickly becomes a race to the local hospital as she suddenly begins seizing in the car. At the ICU, she is diagnosed with eastern equine encephalitis, a rare and highly lethal mosquito-borne viral disease seemingly caught during one of their evening cookouts. Complicating the situation further, Brian and Emma’s young daughter then begins to exhibit alarming physical and behavioral symptoms, too.
Emma’s harrowing hospital stay becomes even more fraught when Brian receives a staggering hospital bill full of outrageous charges and murky language. To add insult to injury, his health insurance company refuses to cover any of the cost, citing dubious clauses in Brian’s policy. Forced to choose between the ongoing care of family and bills he can never pay, and furious at a shockingly indifferent healthcare system, Brian vows to seek justice. But to get to the bottom of the predatory practices targeting his loved ones and countless others, he must uncover the dark side of an industry that has strayed drastically from its altruistic roots—and bring down the callous executives preying on the sick and defenseless before the virus can claim even more people . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this disappointing thriller from bestseller Cook (Genesis), New Yorkers Brian and Emma Murphy are vacationing on Cape Cod when Emma is bitten by an Asian tiger mosquito. Emma has violent seizures on the drive back to New York, where Brian takes her straight to the emergency room of his local hospital, Manhattan Memorial, a choice that his insurer later uses as a basis to deny coverage for an astronomical hospital bill. Even as Brian grapples with a diagnosis that Emma has eastern equine encephalitis, the hospital's administration puts the screws on him to come up with a payment plan. Subsequent developments force Brian to seek justice in his own way. Clunky dialogue ("Having grown up in France where this type of tolerated robbery involving healthcare would never happen, how has it come to be here in the United States that hospitals and health insurance companies operate with such impunity?") and underdeveloped characters make this one of Cook's lesser efforts. This screed against the state of American health care will have limited appeal to suspense fans.
