The explosive new thriller from New York Times-bestselling author and master of the medical thriller, Robin Cook, takes readers back to where the genre began, and the questions posed in Coma: what happens when innocent hospital patients are used as medical 'incubators' against their will? Lynn Peirce, a fourth-year medical student at Mason-Dixon University, thinks she has her life figured out. But when her otherwise healthy boyfriend, Carl, is admitted to hospital for routine surgery, Lynn is devastated by his sudden death. Convinced there's more to the story than the authorities are willing to reveal, Lynn searches for evidence of medical malpractice with the help of her lab partner, Michael. What she uncovers, however, is far more disturbing. Hospitals associated with Middleton Healthcare, including the one attached to the university, have unnervingly high rates of unexplained complications and patients contracting serious and terminal illnesses following routine surgery. When Lynn and Michael begin to receive death threats, they realize they must discover the truth, before the shadowy forces behind Middleton Healthcare can put a stop to their efforts once and for all.