by Robin Cook
First published 2011
Pia Grazdani works alongside Dr. Tobias Rothman at Columbia University Medical Center, developing organ replacement technology that could save countless lives. The brilliant but distant medical student sees this research as her path to meaningful work that might finally quiet the painful memories of her childhood abuse. When disaster strikes the secure biosafety laboratory, Pia teams up with her devoted classmate George Wilson to uncover what really happened. Their investigation reveals a disturbing connection to two former Wall Street traders who have identified a new opportunity in the life insurance market. These financial opportunists are racing to manipulate actuarial data and profit from policies held by elderly and sick patients. As Pia and George probe deeper into the laboratory incident, they must determine whether someone is deliberately corrupting private insurance records to let investors cash in on human death. The young medical student finds herself caught between her scientific ambitions and a conspiracy that treats human lives as financial instruments.
Genres: medical, mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller, academic
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: conspiracy, corruption, investigation
Setting: Columbia University Medical Center
Period: 21st-century
432 pages · Hardcover · G.P. Putnam's Sons
Content warnings: medical-trauma