Death Benefit [Mass Market Paperback]

Pia Grazdani, a talented medical student, is working with a prestigious scientist, Dr. Rothman, on stem cell research to create human replacement organs. The research, which will revolutionize treatment of many diseases, is only months away from being completed when a disaster strikes the lab. Dr. Rothman and one of his associates become deathly ill while working in the lab and die within hours. Pia does not believe this is an accident and, with the help of her friend George, begins her own investigation much to the distress of school administrators. A potential murder investigation would not be good for the school.

I liked Pia. She is smart, strong-willed and independent. Orphaned at an early age she was raised in the foster system and learned to depend on herself and no one else. She still suffers from nightmares and cannot allow anyone to get close to her even though her friend George would do anything to help her.

Meanwhile, several ex-Wall street hot-shots think they have hit on the investment idea of the century. They formed a company to buy insurance policies from terminally ill people for pennies on the dollar. The future seems bright until someone begins shorting their stock. As soon as other investors find out about this, their company will be worthless.

Scattered throughout the story are a few chapters with some very unlikeable characters from the Albanian mob. It got a little unbelievable and this element of the plot could have been handled differently and still been effective. To avoid spoilers I'll not say much more other than all three seemingly unconnected storylines come together in the end.

The narration by George Guidall was a pleasure to listen to with a smooth, flowing style. I usually prefer a female main character to be narrated by a woman's voice but Guidall did a capable job with Pia and I was not distracted by the lack of a female reader. The book was written in the third person so there was more narration than dialog.

I enjoyed this medical thriller that combines the right amount of current research, factual information and an engaging story. Stem cell research and organ replacement are timely and interesting topics that held my attention over the eleven hours of the audiobook.

I have read all of Robin Cooks books to date and havent been disappointed in any of them.
This latest book follows suite.
BUT .. The fact that the kindle edition of this release is $3 more than the paperback version has me confused.
Why pay more for for an e book that obviously costs less to manufacture than its printed version.

I dont know if this is the fault of the author, the publisher or amazon but it has me wondering if my next purchase will be kindle based..

Nobel Prize winner, molecular geneticist Tobias Rothman, who worked with virulent strains of typhoid-causing salmonella, concentrates on organogenesis, growing fully functional entire organs from stem cells. He notices the energy and intelligence of Columbia Medical School student Pia Grazdani so Tobias brings the troubled twenty-six years old onto his team.

Avaricious board chair of LifeDeals Inc. Edmund Mathews uses his firm's assets to buy life insurance policies from the sick and elderly on the cheap. However, if Rothman's work succeeds making organs cheap, Mathews and his partners would go bankrupt and potentially face criminal charges of fraud and embezzlement. An accident at the safe lab shakes up Pia who soon realizes someone caused the lethal incident and wants her dead too. She turns to Columbia medical student George Wilson, who loves her, for safety.

Although an exciting medical thriller, Death Benefits is over the top of Morningside Heights; thus requiring readers to ignore their plausibility measures. The story line is fast-paced from the moment the lab incident occurs and never slows down. Robin Cook shines a fascinating spotlight on the multitrillion dollar insurance commodity market inside an engaging Manhattan tale.

Harriet Klausner