Like Arthur Conan Doyle before him, best-selling novelist Robin Cook has turned from the practice of medicine to that of writing popular suspense fiction.

Widely recognized as the "Master of the Medical Thriller," Cook uses the medium of the popular novel to address a range of social issues: environmental pollution, gender inequality in the workplace, the risks inherent in the common practice of secrecy in science research, and above all, the ramifications of medicine's transition from profession to corporate industry.

This study analyzes, in turn, each of Cook's medical thrillers, from Coma to Contagion. Following a biographical chapter, the next chapter examines the ways in which Cook's medical thriller incorporates plotting conventions and strategies borrowed from such popular literary genres as the science fiction novel, the murder mystery, and the gothic romance. Each work is then examined in a separate chapter with subsections on plot, character, and theme.

Stookey also offers an alternative critical approach to the novel, which gives the reader another perspective from which to read and discuss the text. A complete bibliography of Cook's fiction, general criticism and biographical sources, and listings of reviews of each novel complete the work. The only study of one of America's most popular contemporary novelists, read by adults and young adults alike, this is a key purchase for schools and public libraries.