Illegal surgery and the medical community

The daughter of a prominent Boston doctor is dead, apparently from an botched abortion (which was illegal in the late 60's). Dr. John Berry's friend, Art Lee, is in jail for the crime, which he says he didn't commit. So, Dr. Berry sets out to prove his friend's innocence, and runs into cover-ups and lots of secrets. But there are many doubts, such as was the girl really pregnant, and did Dr. Lee actually perform the surgery, and why is Dr. Berry so interested in finding the culprit?

For Michael Crichton's first novel, it's not bad, but nowhere near as good as some later ones. The whole abortion theme was discussed in a mostly non-controversial way - opponents won't necessarily be offended by this book. The plot is marginally interesting, but I found it hard to keep characters straight and the dialog didn't sound very natural. Dr. Berry (who just takes the whole week off to investigate) talks more like a cheesy "private eye" than a doctor. Also annoying was the use of footnotes and endnotes to explain various medical terms and concepts - nice to know but annoying to look up.

It was the _______ who did it!

I thought this was a good book, which was dated, yet dealt with an important topic yesterday as it is today; abortion. It was well written and easy to read. Actually had trouble putting it down. If you are strictly anti-abortion you may not like this book, if you're able to put that aside you may like it. I did slam nurses though and I didn't like that aspect of the book. Given the times when it was written, nurses were really looked down upon. Unfortunately many of those stereotypical misconceptions from the point of view of the doctor still carry over today 37 years later. Also brought up the unwritten law of medicine, never to turn against your brother MD no matter how incompetent and dangerous they practice. Another code still largely unbroken today.

A good "Robin Cook type" novel!

The main character of this book, Dr. John Berry, seems a heck of a lot like Robin Cook's Jack Stapleton. In fact, this book is a lot like a Cook novel except the conspirators that are usually after the hero as he methodically pieces together the clues, are noticeably missing from this book.

Berry is investigating the death of a rich college co-ed who died from an apparent botched abortion. Berry's friend who clandestinely does abortions (this is the pre-Roe vs. Wade era) is the main suspect. Berry uses his medical credentials and general ability to intimidate people to interview everyone that might have known the co-ed or who could be a lead to where she went to have her procedure done.

The author gives a lot of explanation to many medical terms and the book is a fairly quick read. I would have rated it higher but I felt that the lack of the suspense that normally exists in a Robin Cook novel where the main character has to fight the bad guys, slightly detracted from the book.