Brain door Robin Cook

Title (also explain the title): ‘Brain’, given because Dr Martin Philips discovers there’s something seriously wrong with the brains of several young women when he’s testing a new invention. Author: ‘Robin Cook’, lives in New Hampshire (USA), with his wife Barbara. He’s a surgeon and has written previous novels such as ‘Coma’ and ‘Fever’. Genre: Science fiction horror, thriller
Theme: Medicine, research, love, action, mystery Time: The story of Dr Martin happens in a couple of days, but there are short notes about previous events, such as Katherine’s visit to the GYN-clinic. The story takes place in the 70’s. Setting: Mostly Hobson University Medical Center in New York. Construction: With a lot of descriptions and a few dialogues. Also an expanded medical vocabulary. Narrative technique: Auctorial perspective Ex: Lisa Marino felt her arm lifted and rotated so the nurse could read her identification bracelet. Characterisation: Martin Philips ‘happens’ to be an intelligent, handsome doctor, who’s had bad luck in love until he met Denise Sanger, who also ‘happens’ to be gorgeous and very witty. (The good people were overall beautiful, while the bad ones were –with the exception of Dr Michaels- given negative qualities through their looks.) Appreciation: I really loved this book, it was very well written, the author really kept me on the edge of my seat, you always wanted to know what was going on inside those women’s head as the mystery became slowly unravelled, climaxing at the exact right moments.
Summary: Dr Martin Philips had just finished his morning routine when his friend William Michaels dropped in his office with a surprise. Over the past 2 years he and Philips had tried to design a computer that could read and diagnose x-rays and today their hard work had finally payed off. Michaels had designed the first prototype. He wanted Philips to run some x-rays through the program to see if there were any bugs. Philips felt very excited about his upcoming task… He ran an x-ray and discovered that the machine had picked up something he had overlooked: some mild density variations. The patient, Lisa Marino, had just had major brain surgery. When Philips excitedly ran to Neurology to look if he could take some more tests, he was told that Marino had died on the operating table. Philips was very disappointed, he felt like he was on the verge of a breakthrough. He and Denise Sanger, a young attractive doctor, decided to get the x-rays anyway and head for the morgue. Without any complications they get Marino’s corpse up to the radiology department and put her under the CAT-scan, only to discover that her head was empty. Her brain had been secretly removed. Shocked by this discovery, they quickly take the body back down but get busted by the hospital diener, Werner. After making up an excuse for their presence, they started questioning Werner about the missing brain. Werner stated he didn’t have anything to do with it and that they’ll both be in serious trouble. The next day Dr Thomas, an ER doctor, presents Philips an unusual case; Lynn Anne Lucas came in yesterday complaining about a bad vision, a strange smell and dizziness which he couldn’t quite figure out because all her tests seemed normal. After reading her charts he finds out she had the same symptoms as Marino! Because it was already ate, and the CAT-scan technician had gone home, he decides to admit her for the night to take the scans first thing in the morning. The next morning she is missing. Philips runs several more x-ray films through the computer and discovers similar cases to Marino’s and Lucas’s. All these patients are either missing or dead. Philips discovers that all the women have had unusual pap-smear tests and he decides to head for the GYN-clinic. Arriving there he finds a young woman in the waiting room complaining about the same symptoms as the other cases. He takes the girl, Kirsten Lindquist, up to Radiology to run the scans he’s been wanting to run on Lucas and Marino. After discovering new facts, he found Kirsten missing the next morning… He decides to talk to Werner, who’s been acting very suspicious. He follows the man home to confront him, but before he gets the answers he needs, Werner gets killed and his assassin is now after Philips… Philips is being chased around the city by several more killers and there’s no place to hide… Meanwhile, in his apartment Denise gets kidnapped by two men who threaten her life if she doesn’t tell them where Philips is. Trapped on every side, Philips calls Michaels and asks him to meet him in the amphitheatre where Michaels’ laboratory and Research Center for Artificial Intelligence was situated. Arriving there, his pursuers arrive as well, leaving Philips very confused… It turns out that Michaels was in on the whole thing and ad killed those women in the name of science, to find out how the brain was working exactly, so that he could create artificial intelligence… Philips is shocked, yet he’ll get killed if he ever reveals this secret..