Critical

Doctor and author Robin Cook is widely credited with introducing the word “medical” to the thriller genre, and thirty one 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 succession of twenty-seven New York Times bestsellers that have been translated into forty languages. To date, they include Outbreak (1987), Mindbend (1988), Mutation (1989), Harmful Intent (1990), Vital Signs (1991), Blindsight (1992), Terminal (1993), Fatal Cure (1994), Acceptable Risk (1995), Contagion (1996), Chromosome 6 (1997), Toxin (1998), Vector (1999), Shock (2001), Seizure (2003), Marker (2005), Crisis (2006), Critical (2007) and Foreign Body (2008).

In each of his novels, Robin Cook strives to elucidate various medical/biotech ethical issues. Dr. Cook says he chose to write thrillers as a way to use entertainment as a method of exposing the public to public policy conundrums such as genetic engineering, medical economics, in vitro fertilization, research funding, managed care, drug research, organ transplantation, stem cell research, concierge medicine, and M.D. owned specialty hospitals.

There have been numerous theatrical movies, television movies, and mini-series made from Robin Cook’s work. In addition to the successful feature film Coma, in December 1993, CBS-TV aired “Robin Cook’s Harmful Intent”; in November 1994 NBC-TV aired “Robin Cook’s Mortal Fear”; in May 1995, NBC-TV aired “Robin Cook’s Virus,” based on Outbreak; in February 1996 NBC-TV aired “Robin Cook’s Terminal”; in 1997 NBC-TV aired “Robin Cook’s Invasion”; and in October 2001 TNT-TV aired “Robin Cook’s Acceptable Risk”.