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Coma: A Novel
by Robin Cook
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Little Brown & Co (T) (1977-03)
ISBN: 0316155101
EAN: 9780316155106
Dewy Decimal #: 813.54
Hardcover: 280 pages
Edition: 1st
SKU: BX036-070323003
Condition: Collectible: Good Fi
Comments: Stated First Edition (T04/77). Missing dustcover o/wise clean with just light wear to cover. Pgs crisp, clean, tight, unmarked. No remainder mark.
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Editorial Reviews
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Book Description
"Gripping...terrifying." (The New York Times)
"Strikes a deafening chord of terror." (The Washington Post)
The book that put Cook on the bestseller lists, Coma is the gripping story of patients who check into a hospital for "minor" surgery-and never wake up again...
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Customer Reviews
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Medical thrillers
Rating  (5)
Date: 2008-04-26
Anyone who enjoys a good medical thriller should read this book. Robin Cook is a terrific writer and I would recommend reading all his books. He is my favorite writer. All his books are great reads.
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Read all of Crichton's novels? Try Cook.
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-04-12
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Michael Crichton is one of my favourite writers, but having read all of his novels, I was at a loss as to what to read next. Taking into account the fact that Crichton wrote and directed the movie of "Coma", I decided that the book of this film would probably be along the same lines as a Michael Crichton novel and I was right. Robin Cook is to medical thrillers what Michael Crichton is to technological thrillers.
This, Cook's second novel, tells of young medical student, Susan Wheeler and her quest to solve the mystery of why so many seemingly "healthy" patients are slipping into comas at the Boston Memorial Hospital. Although first published in 1977, over 30 years later this book is still relevant and exciting (although the description of the hospital's "state of the art" computer is laughable by modern standards). Being relatively new to writing, Cook does make some of the mistakes that you would expect of an inexperienced writer, and the ending was a bit abrupt for my liking, but in general, the mistakes are few and far between and aren't all that important.
Overall, the book is well written, the characters are believable and in Susan Wheeler, Cook creates a heroine whom I felt I could cheer for and identify with. Best of all, Cook does not talk down to his readers. He assumes that his readers are as intelligent as his characters. There is a lot of medical-talk in this book and by the end of it, I still didn't understand a lot of it, but simply from 380 pages of exposure, I felt that I had picked up some of it and felt like I had learnt something as a result.
Finally, prospective readers should note, in my edition of this book there is a letter from Robin Cook at the very beginning. If you don't already know what happens in "Coma", don't read this letter. It contains some major plot spoilers. You should also avoid reading the "Author's Note" (at the back of the book), until you have finished.
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Good, but forgettable
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-04-01
Coma is a good book of the suspense genre with a few flaws. If you read the 25th anniversary author's note at the beginning, you will know why the patients are being put into comas. This took away from the experience and shock value of the ending. However, the plot itself was fast and fun to read. The characters are a little on the shallow side, but were actually quite interesting. The protagonist's actions and motivations are not explained well at all, but this is being picky. Coma came out 30 years ago, so some of the technology is dated, but I found this humorous. Give this book a shot if you are looking for a fast, easy, but forgettable read.
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I Can't Believe He wrote this
Rating  (1)
Date: 2007-08-11
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I'm sorry, but this was Robin Cook's worst books... It was slow going, boring and more like a TV drama that I don't care about. It was okay for a first novel, but I read more of his recent ones to be an inkling impressed with this one....
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has it's ups and downs
Rating (4)
Date: 2007-05-11
THERE'S A SMOKING HOT CHICK IN THIS BOOK! Ok, now that I have your attention... I personally wasn't to enthralled with the beginning. It just didn't grab my attention. There's alot of medical talk in this book, so be prepared to be a little confused at times. But don't get me wrong, it has it's plusses. There are some weird things going on in the story (which in my oppinion make the book pretty much), and as previously stated, there's this hot chick that is the main character. Which of course, every guy in the book has to mention, is hot. I got really tired of hearing about it. Robin Cook obviously knows a good bit of medical terminology apparently, which makes the book seem a little more plausible. Overall a pretty good read.
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