Book Analysis
Dr. Robin Cook, a graduate of Columbia University Medical School, finished his postgraduate medical training in Harvard. He is the author of the novel, Contagion.
The novel is really wonderful, very detailed and at the same time informative. I am really a fan of Dr. Robin Cook because of his intelligence in connecting biological concepts that are really spine tingling and would unconsciously make you think of possibilities of his medical-thrilling novel’s conflict. The work of a forensic pathologist is not common for ordinary people and we find those who are engage to it as weird since they are able to interact with corpses. But in this novel, Dr. Robin Cook changed our perception about medical examiners. He showed us how exciting their work is and how important is their work in helping especially in preventing an epidemic possibility. They might just be dealing with the dead bodies but they are also concern in preventing bodies to die. I was personally affected with this novel to get a decree in pathology and do what Jack Stapelton and Laurie Montgomery are concerned of especially in doing autopsies.
One of the responsibilities that a medical examiner could do for the sake of the family members left by the dead is for them to come up with the most appropriate reason and explanation of how the dead body died. We are also shocked about how Dr. Cook identified the suspects of spreading the disease in the character of Jack Stapelton and how they spread these using just a simple humidifier. I never thought of Terese Hagens and Richard Overstreet as the antagonists. The story is very unpredictable. Dr. Cook turned the peaceful practice of medicine to something exciting. I would really like to recommend this fast read novel that would holds you page after page because it calls for our leaders and even our attention to reject market values as a framework for the health care and the market-driven mess into which our health system is evolving.
The story of contagion revolves around the first exciting experience of Jack Stapelton after getting his degree in forensic pathology.
Jack Stapelton is a medical examiner of the office of Medical Examiners of New York City for five months. Laurie Montgomery is the one in charge in assigning the cases to the medical examiners. That day, an infectious disease case was assigned to Jack Stapelton. As Stapelton did the autopsy of Nodelman, he thought of the cause of death as plague. It was too unbelievable to have a case of plague especially in March at New York City in a hospitalized patient. After the Micro Lab examined the gram stain that Jack sent them, it was confirmed that Nodelman is positive of plague.
Jack Stapelton had done a lucky diagnosis. And because of the absence of his bosses Dr. Harold Bingham and Dr. Calvin, jack decided to call the Commissioner of Health and informed them about the possible epidemic that the plague could cause. Jack wasn’t contented with the call that he made. He even made a visit to the Manhattan General Hospital where Nodelman was confined. Jack got to know Dr. Carl Wainright, Martin Cheveau and Richard Overstreet who have all been so overwhelming and appreciative of his diagnosis that day. Mr. Kelley, the President and Dr. Abelard the City Epidemiologist felt opposite about jack’s sudden appearance.
Jack was almost fired when his chief got to know about his violation of the “no site visit policy”. After being almost fired up, Chet Mcgovern invited jack for a dinner that night. There they met Terese Hagens and Colleen Anderson who are both engaged to the advertising industry. The group made conversations about their works and interests Terese thought of listening to jack’s opinions about the ad so that she can use that for her campaign for the National Health Company.
For the next couple of days, Jack made another diagnosis of three rare arthropod-borne diseases; tularemia, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Primary Influenza Pneumonia. All of these diseases came from Manhattan General. As jack got to confirm his diagnosis with the help of the lab, he also made site visits to Manhattan General that caused irritation to Mr. Kelley and Martin Cheveau. As a result, Dr. Bingham made another warning for him. Jack was so desperate that he even risks his work because he thinks that something is wrong, something is missing and someone could possibly just deliberating these diseases.
After almost telling his thought of somebody is just causing these diseases put Jack in danger. An unknown person paid a gang named “Black Kings” to knock him off and warned him to do his job and let others do theirs. One weird fact about the cases that they handle is that, in every infectious disease, there is always a case of death from the Central Supply of the Manhattan General which is so impossible since there is no chance for the staffs to have contact and acquire the disease form the person who died from it.
Jack’s further personal investigation wasn’t delayed because of the threat that he received. He then learned that anyone even without a permit who has a capability to pay can order any microbe from the National Biologicals in Virginia. Jack tried it himself and asked the agent for some confidential questions like who ordered plague and tularemia recently. Jack was told that plague was recently ordered last March 15 by Martin Cheveau and tularemia was ordered by a company named Frazer Labs. The two attempts of his life were followed when Jack and Terese were on a restaurant for a dinner. Thanks to a sergeant who were asked by Lou Soldano, a friend of Laurie Montgomery to watch after jack and eventually saved Jack’s life from being shot.
The other day, jack decided to take a visit to the Frazer Lab. He made a fake package and even wore a delivery man’s suit. After a long wait, a man in Ski Sparta came into the jewelry shop where Jack dropped down the package. Through Jack’s instincts, he decided to follow the man to his building. He used the fire exit stairs and trespass the man’s apartment. There he found laboratory apparatuses and was sure that he was already in the Frazer Labs. The man in Ski Sparta caught him in the comfort room where he is hiding.
The man who orders tularemia, the operator of the Frazer Labs and the Head Tech of the Manhattan General Hospital is right in front of him! The man is Richard Overstreet who was deliberately spreading the diseases. What shocked that most was when he caught sight of the other person engaged with the immoral killing, the person is Terese Hagens. Jack learned that Terese Hagens badly wants to have the president’s position of the advertising firm where she works. That is the reason that she needs to come up with a great Television ad. Richard Overstreet is her brother that helped Terese through putting his microbes to people’s humidifiers so that the Manhattan General would have a headache about the nosocomial infection and media will be informed thus people would hesitate to go there but rather to National Health Company.
The next thing Jack was aware of is that the siblings want him be gone because he surely will spill the real thing and the siblings will surely end up in jail. They brought Jack to Catskills and since Jack’s symptoms of the Primary Pneumonia Influenza were observed when the three are on the car in their way to Catskills. The two eventually died after acquiring the disease from Jack. Primary Pneumonia Influenza is the disease that killed twenty-five million people around the globe last 1918 and 1919. Jack acquired the disease from Hernandez who died because of it. The sudden appearance of the disease is just because of the gram stain that Richard got after a friend of him saw a natural tomb in Atlantic. Richard of course didn’t waste the chance and get a sample of it. The disease can kill a person as fast as below twenty-four hours. Jack wasn’t that affected by the disease even if he had the symptoms because of the Rimantadine that he is inducing to his body.
The cause of the appearance of these infectious diseases was solved and the damage was controlled by the vaccine that the Commission of Health is giving to the public.