What a bummer. I read reviews of this book while waiting for my copy to become available at the library. I was disappointed that so many had tanked it as "predictable," "formulaic," and "incredibly unrealistic". I was hopeful that our tastes were simply different. Nope. The Robin Cook "Jack and Laurie Curse" strikes again. It seems as though every other book in the Jack and Laurie series is exciting, fast paced and set somewhere truly intriguing and that was certainly the case with "Intervention". Unfortunately, the next book in the series usually tends to be a bust. Certainly true here. How many times can we read about the NYC Mafia, Warren and Lou saving the day and Jack or Laurie doing something superhuman? The medical portions of this book were far beyond technically inaccessible, the mafia goons are only believable if you can look past their perfectly articulated English and the Japanese dimension added nothing to the plot except the need for a long list of character explanations in the front of the book. My love for Robin Cook's thrillers continue to wane with skepticism. What a shame.