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Robin Cook has been known, for many years, as a medical doctor with a talent for writing. He invariably picks up on issues of the day and turns them into engrossing mysteries which not only entertain but also give the reader problems on which to ponder. MARKER provides a good example of this. While it deals with the personal problems of its protagonists -- Laurie, at age 43, hears the alarm of her biological clock whilst Jack has the male tendency to be unwilling to commit himself to a family -- it also deals with the larger picture of advances in technology and the vexed question of big business meddling in medicine by way of 'managed care' provision. Laurie Montgomery and Jack Stapleton are medical examiners. They all but live together whilst being colleagues in the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York. Their day begins on a doubly bad note. Laurie decides that until such time as Jack resolves to overcome the tragedy of his wife and daughters dying more than a decade previously and look favourably on marriage and children with her, she will move out of his apartment and return to her own. When the pair arrive, separately, at work, they are confronted with the body of a young and extremely healthy male who died in hospital after a routine operation. There are no obvious signs as to why the man expired. The reader is treated to two bits of knowledge unknown to the forensic pathologists: a medical crisis awaits Laurie and someone is using potassium chloride to inject, and murder, patients on command. A friend and colleague of the duo becomes besotted with an exotic, mixed race woman who attends his favourite gym. The woman, Jazz, displays utter contempt for Chet, who introduces himself as a doctor. It is quite obvious that, although she is a nurse, the former Army member is sociopathic and devoid of empathy. The tale becomes more involved as several more young and healthy patients perish. Potassium Chloride is difficult to detect in a corpse because of the body's own chemistry. Laurie's diagnosis of foul play by a serial offender is laughed to scorn by her superiors and colleagues alike. This is an interesting and well-written story. The author does not fall into the trap occupied by other specialised writers, using, say, their medical or legal backgrounds, of providing too much esoteric detail which, could they but see it, serves to alienate their readers. Extremely appropriate conundrums are explored, one of the most frightening as well as common being the feeling of utter helplessness experienced by patients, regardless of their standing within the community, once they are at the mercy of an unfeeling system or practitioner or both. Stars would be an inappropriate award for this author. Let's give him four scalpels.
Reviewed by Denise Pickles, May 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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