Seizure [Hardcover]

'Like John Grisham and Patricia Cornwell, the author, a practising doctor from Florida, mines his professional life for clever plots and gruesomely convincing details' (DAILY MAIL).

The latest harrowing novel from the best-selling master of the medical chiller A seizure has to be one of the most frightening conditions known to the medical profession, and ever since publication of COMA (basis of an outstanding film) Dr Cook has been scaring us with his visionary insight into the most alarming possibilities of his own profession. Long recognised as the master of medical thrillers, Robin Cook once again combines a fascinating scenario with cutting-edge suspense and the bold strokes of everyday reality.

What could the Shroud of Turin, a conservative Southern senator, and an entrepreneurial researcher have in common? Here politics, religion and bioscience collide in the latest novel from the master of the medical thriller. Senator Ashley Butler is a quintessential demagogue whose support of traditional American values includes a knee-jerk reaction against virtually all biotechnologies. When he’s called on to chair a sub-committee introducing legislation to ban new cloning technology, the senator views it as a keystone to his political future. As a consequence, Dr Daniel Lowell – inventor of a technique that will take stem-cell research up to the next level – sees a barrier being raised before his biotech start-up. These seemingly opposite personalities may clash during the Senate hearings, yet the two men share a common failing. Butler’s hunger for political power far outstrips his genuine concern for the unborn; while Lowell’s pursuit of massive personal wealth and celebrity overrides any real considerations for his patients’ well-being. Further complicating their confrontation is the confidential news that Senator Butler has developed Parkinson’s disease – which leads the senator and the researcher into a Faustian pact. But in attempting to utilise Lowell’s new technology prematurely, the therapy leaves the senator with the horrifying effects of temporal lobe epilepsy – causing seizures of the bizarrest order. Taken straight out of tomorrow’s headlines, Seizure is a cautionary tale for this age when new biotechnological discoveries are pulling us ever further into a promising yet frightening new world. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

A bestselling author for many years, since early books, such as COMA, were the basis for successful films, Robin Cook has written twenty-one previous novels. Originally practising in Boston, he now lives and works in Florida.