Intervention (Published in 2009) - Authored by Robin Cook, attempt to mix religion and science

The story revolves around two plots, which are connected although they may seem unrelated at first. Archaeologist cum biblical scholar Shawn Doughtry and his molecular biologist wife Sana are in Cairo. Shawn is head of the Department of Near Eastern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. His interest in the Arts and all things antique leads him to acquire an ancient book. Shawn retrieves a letter from between the leather cover of the book; it talks of an ossuary containing the remains of the Virgin Mary, which may be buried under the St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Shawn shares the news with Sana, justifiably excited at this grand find, knowing that it would cause ripples in the Catholic world! Shawn is typically on an adrenaline high; go getting and hurried, he likes to take charge of things and have his way, being career obsessed, he believes he’s hit the jackpot after the discovery of the ancient codex he bought at the souk. He plans on making the journey to Rome, to unearth the ossuary and see what remains in it after two thousand years!
Then there’s Robin Cook’s favorite medical practitioner Dr. Jack Stapleton, who is also a pathologist - likes to kill time engrossed in work along with wife Laurie Montgomery, with whom he has co-partnered in several over six books. He uses his work to seek a way to deal with his young son’s cancer. Whilst conducting an autopsy on a young college student, who lost her life thanks to some trending alternative therapy - the chiropractor, treating her tore the lining of her vertebral arteries whilst manipulating her cervical spine. Jack decides he must address the issue of patients stepping outside the realm of traditional medical science and seeking help from healers and dubious gurus. Will his zeal and fervor put an end to an era of quacks or will it die on seeing the light of day?




Jack and Shawn haven’t met for thirty years, but share a camaraderie that has lasted these past decades, it includes another former classmate James O’Rourke, now Cardinal O’Rourke, Bishop of the Archdiocese of New York. Shawn obviously cannot wait to share this piece of news with both the men, especially James. The Cardinal, when he is told of the ossuary, is concerned that he may jeopardize his future in the Church with this seemingly blasphemous discovery, and asks Jack to intervene.
However, determined to see the ossuary out of the Basilica, Shawn and Sana are able to retrieve it and mail it to New  York, as the personal property of the Cardinal. O’Rourke is racing against time to stop his friend Shawn from making his finds public, for the entire world believes that the Virgin Mary was taken up into Heaven, in Divine Ascension, like Christ. Written a few years after the famed Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, which truly shook the Catholic world with its outrageous and blasphemous claims, Intervention doesn’t even come close. However, Cook has tried to marry science, religion and medicine as best as he could, not quite the racy nail biter compared to his other works, but an okay read.

Death Benefit (Published in 2011) - Authored by Robin Cook - Promise vs. greed

Afrodita Pia Grazdani has had the nightmare innumerable times. And it always has the requisite affect on her - leaving her in cold sweat, afraid and insecure. A fourth year medical student at the Columbia University, Pia has been offered an enviable assignment - assistant to the living legend, Nobel Laureate, molecular geneticist Dr. Tobias Rothman himself. He is conducting two researches simultaneously about virulent strains of salmonella and the other, more challenging task of finding out whether healthy human organs can be created from stem cells - organogenesis.
Pia is from Albania, and has undergone immense suffering as a child at the hands of her uncle and authorities in foster care, this hurt was entrenched further when her own father refused to come to her rescue at the foster care center; she is now twenty six and although beautiful, with a stream of admirers, suffers from what could only be some sort of a ‘detachment syndrome’. Her most loyal friend George Wilson, an ardent admirer with whom she has had intimate (according to her, plain sex) relations on four occasions to be precise, is at the receiving end of her lack of emotions; she would rather he leaves and goes home than spend the night in her bed! This is a serious flaw that mars the otherwise pristine beauty.




Dr. Rothman becomes the father figure in Pia’s life; she is deeply attached to him, making up for the loss of emotional contact from her own parent in her growing years. The doctor admires her tenacity and dedication, they become kindred spirits, he even confesses to her that he suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome. The success of his research means that Tobias will put a lot of drug companies out in the cold, as organs such as the pancreas will be ‘created’ in labs, bringing down the usage of diabetic drugs, a major source of revenue for drug firms. When Pia breaks the news that after she completes her research and Ph.D, she plans to look after the financial needs of the Convent of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, Rothman is livid, he wonders how she can throw away an opportunity to work with him over a god forsaken charity in Africa! When she tells Tobias the reason why, he offers to loan her fifty thousand dollars for the Convent, the Mother Superior refuses to be repaid, using the word ‘betrayal’, even as Rothman urges Pia to move on instead of being bulldozed with ‘Catholic guilt’.
On the other hand, unknown to the scientists cocooned in their laboratories, the world of medicine, life and death is manipulated by avarice and money. Two former employees of Wall Street, set about to earn a quick buck by buying life insurance policies with death benefits, from people who are in dire straits. They pay premiums on the policies, collecting benefits when the people die. They have researched well and are aware that people in need of organ transplants are especially prone to financial crunches, weigh the odds of finding a donor, and the body rejecting the donated organ. The machinery they’ve created is well oiled and earning them enough cash, when things get a little shaky.
One of their own, a protégée of theirs, decides to pull a fast one on them - she is short selling their stock. Apparently the woman had wanted to be a part of their team, but was rejected, this mad her see red and she decided that they would pay for this decision. This brilliant yet twisted creature has gotten onto the trail of Dr. Rothman, and his cutting edge theory of organogenesis. Maybe these banking brains could make money out of it! Robin Cook has authored thirty odd books, Death Benefit  is another brilliant work from his amazing storehouse of storytelling and imagination!