A Jack Stapleton & Laurie Montgomery Novel

Latest release: December 5, 2023
Series
14
Books
Contagion
Book 2·Dec 1996
4.5
·
$9.99
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A sinister act of bioterrorism spreads a deadly epidemic across America in this “spine-tingling” (Denver Post) novel from the “master of the medical thriller” (The New York Times).
 
After he loses first his midwestern ophthalmology practice to a for-profit medical giant and then his family to a commuter airline tragedy, Dr. John Stapleton’s life is transformed to ashes. Feeling less the golden boy than a jaded cynic, Stapleton retrains in forensic pathology and relocates to find an uneasy niche for himself that suits his changed perspective: the cold, indifferent, concrete maze of New York.
 
Stapleton thinks he is past pain and past caring, but as a series if virulent and extremely lethal illnesses—capped by a particularly deadly outbreak of a rare strain of influenza—strikes the young, the old, and the innocent, his suspicions are aroused. When the apparent epicenters of these outbreaks are revealed to be hospitals and clinics controlled by the same for-profit giants that cannibalized his old ophthalmology practice, Stapleton fears he has stumbled upon a diabolic conspiracy of catastrophic proportions: Could the for-profit giant be engaged in the systemic elimination of its more costly subscribers?
 
Getting to the truth leads to Stapleton’s unlikely pairing—both professionally and personally—with Terese Hagen, an art director at a hot Madison Avenue advertising firm. Together they discover that the real explanation behind the killer contagions is even more Machiavellian than could be imagined.
Crisis
Book 6·Aug 2006
4.5
·
$8.99
The inventor of the medical thriller shows the profession’s dark side: the terrifying story of a doctor who is sucked into the maelstrom of the current medical malpractice crisis.

When Boston-based Dr. Craig Bowman is served with a summons for medical negligence, he’s shocked, enraged, and more than a little humiliated. A devoted physician who has endured grueling years of training and worked continuously in the service of others, he is now a partner in an exclusive concierge medical practice. No longer forced to see more and more patients while spending less and less time with each one just to keep his office door open, he provides the kind of medical care he has been prepared to do, lavishing twenty-four-hour availability and personalized attention on his handpicked patients. And at last he is earning a significant income, no longer facing decreased reimbursements from insurance companies. But this idyllic situation comes to a grinding halt one sunny afternoon—and things get much, much worse.

Enter Dr. Jack Stapleton, a medical examiner in New York City and Bowman’s brother-in-law: Jack’s sister Alexis—now Bowman’s estranged wife—begs for his help as her husband’s trial drags on. Jack agrees to travel to Boston to offer his forensic services and expert-witness experience to Craig’s beleaguered defense attorney. But when Jack’s irreverent suggestion to exhume the corpse and thereby disprove the alleged malpractice is taken seriously, he opens a Pandora’s box of trouble. As Craig’s life and career are put on the line, Jack is on the verge of making a most unwelcome discovery, of tremendous legal and medical significance—and there are people who will do anything to keep him from learning the truth.
Genesis
Book 12·Dec 2019
4.3
·
$6.99
New York Times-bestselling author Robin Cook takes on the ripped-from-the-headlines topic of harnessing DNA from ancestry websites to catch a killer in this timely and explosive new medical thriller.

When the body of twenty-eight-year-old social worker Kera Jacobsen shows up on Chief New York City Medical Examiner Laurie Montgomery's autopsy table, at first it appears she was the victim of a tragic yet routine drug overdose. But for Laurie and her new pathology resident, the brilliant but enigmatic Dr. Aria Nichols, little things aren't adding up. Kera's family and friends swear she never touched drugs. Administrators from the hospital where Kera worked are insisting the case be shrouded in silence. And although Kera was ten weeks pregnant, nobody seems to know who the father was--or whether he holds the key to Kera's final moments alive.

As a medical emergency temporarily sidelines Laurie, impulsive Aria turns to a controversial new technique: using genealogic DNA databases to track down those who don't want to be found. Working with experts at a start-up ancestry website, she plans to trace the fetus's DNA back to likely male relatives in the hopes of identifying the mystery father. But when Kera's closest friend and fellow social worker is murdered, the need for answers becomes even more urgent. Because someone out there clearly doesn't want Kera's secrets to come to light . . . and if Aria gets any closer to the truth, she and Laurie might find themselves a killer's next targets.
Manner of Death
Book 14·Dec 2023
3.5
·
$14.99
In the new fast-paced medical thriller from bestselling author Robin Cook, fan favorites Jack and Laurie are inadvertently drawn into a dangerous vortex of a series of homicides that have been cleverly staged as suicides.

After Dr. Jack Stapleton’s near-death confrontation with a medical serial killer, his wife, NYC Chief Medical Examiner Laurie Montgomery, is carrying the load both at work and at home. When Laurie insists that Dr. Ryan Sullivan—an underperforming senior pathology resident who is spending his required month at the medical examiner's office but who truly detests doing forensic autopsies—assist her on a suicide autopsy in hopes of stimulating his interest in the field, the last thing she expects is to be unwittingly drawn into a major conspiracy that puts her own life in jeopardy.

Desperate to avoid performing as many forensic autopsies as possible, Dr. Ryan Sullivan offers to participate in a research project on a series of suicides put together by one of the medical legal investigators. These suicides, like the case Ryan analyzes with Laurie, hint at some bothersome questions about their "manner of death." Although the project was more of a ruse than a serious study, Ryan surprises himself by immediately uncovering unexpected shared commonalities. Most astonishing of all, Ryan's inquiries eventually put him and Laurie at risk by leading to a nefarious cancer diagnostics company that promotes the very latest, groundbreaking cancer screening technology in a shockingly self-serving and fraudulent fashion.