Critical by Robin Cook

Critical by Robin Cook is reminiscent of several of his other books. The protagonists are two New York City medical examiners (Dr. Laurie Montgomery and Dr. Jack Stapleton) who have appeared in previous books, along with Detective Lou Soldano and the bumbling hood Franco.

Also reprised are the plot elements of mobsters as investors and competing mobsters. As Robin Cook fans have come to expect, the majority of the characters are MDs and the medical vocabulary is over the top.

This book lacks a tie-in to current events and issues in contemporary medical care as the earlier novels did, but the book does explore the question of scientific blindness where smart scientists get trapped in their linear thinking and never consider the right hypothesis. While this is a very interesting aspect of the scientific minds, the book only flits along the surface of the issue.