Toxin

Dr. Cook is a good writer, but for some reason he "mailed it in" with this novel.
"Toxin" is a diatribe against managed care, the meat industry and the soul-less corporations that corrupt our government. Those are worthy topics. But for some reason the author could not decide whether he was writing a suspense, or a comical farce.
No explanation is ever offered for how a paranoid man with zero impulse control and no grasp of social norms and no faith in the local social order ever became a respected surgeon.
The reader is left asking "Do I care about Dr. Kim Reggis?" And if you have to ask, then the question is a resounding "No!"
Leave "Toxin" in the dump.
Marty Bacon

I wish zero stars were an option...

Thankfully, I picked this up for free at a end-of-the-sale booksale. If I had paid even a cent for this dreck it would have been too much. The writing is insipid and juvenile and the only reason I "finished" it at all was to find out the ending. I say "finished" because I literally read one or two sentences a page for the last 100 pages or so. The sheer number of persons that Kim hit, slapped, punched, throttled, spat at, was rude to, or threatened is truly astounding. Are we supposed to feel anything at all for this protagonist other than disgust? I understand your daughter is dying, sir, but get a grip! I don't care if you are The Best Cardiac Surgeon Ever, you are a raving lunatic with no concept of how to get help for your cause. Oh my, HMO's are evil! Capitalists think of nothing but the profit motive! No one but you, Dr. Kim, can ever, ever do anything right because you are the best. Completely unbelievable, unrealistic, badly written mess of a sorry pretense for a book. Too bad that Robin Cook has descended to such depths....

The book Toxin, while indeed an interesting read, still has several glaring flaws that prevent it from being an outstanding book. The path that Cook takes to develop sympathy for the protagonist, Kim, becomes horribly mangled when Kim is seen acting rashly and irresponsibly. He throws temper tantrums many times and is emotionally out of control, which makes it difficult to be on the side Cook wants the reader to be when the main character acts so childishly. Secondly, blatant stereotyping is also an issue that could potentially turn people off from this book, such as the portrayal of the meat business owners as greedy ignorant red-necks and the main hit-man being a violent, death-crazed Mexican. Stereotypes like these make the book seem very "cut and paste" with little creativity, as well as potentially offensive to some. The realism in some of the events such as a slaughterhouse being able to so easily buy an obliviously infected cow with no difficulty seems extremely unlikely due to standard and regulations are in place in modern times. Kim and Tracy are also able to easily fly to Europe through a commercial airline despite being wanted by the police for many crimes including murder, which would be nearly impossible to accomplish in real life. Finally, the ending is a huge letdown that gives no real conclusion on whether the meat companies get caught or what will happen to those who have also become infected with e.coli. However, the book is very good at building an exciting climax as well as giving the reader serious thoughts about where our food really comes from. Toxin, while still rough around the edges, is still a thrilling and unpredictable read.

i've read at least 15 Robin Cook books by now, and i really dont know what happened with this one. this has got to be one of the worst pieces of fiction i've ever read. the characters were one-dimensional and fake, the dialogue utterly fake and forced, and the plot, while okay in broad strokes, was in its details totally contrived and unbelievable. i kept going only to see if there was going to be some sort of interesting plot twist.... Robin Cook, what is going on??

If you think that it is impossible to make an exciting story about food poisoning, you might use this book as evidence. The story linearly follows Dr. Kim Reggis, cardiac surgeon as his daughter acquires a disease associated with a toxin-producing E. coli. His temperment, like much of this book, is so stereotypical, it could have been written by machine. Rude hospital administrators, indifferent emergency physicians, Barbie girlfriend, callous ex-wife, you have 'em all here. I really can't find a single character with whom I can relate, or even like. I have no sense of the guts of any of them. The action is so sedate that a shoving match between the good surgeon and the knuckleheaded ER doctor is about as exciting as it gets. The writing would get a B- in creative writing 101. Find a better page turner to spend a couple of hours with. Maybe I'm being unfair, though. Perhaps this is the best one could do with a villain named O157:H7.

What a disappointing book!

It's hard to believe Robin Cook is a professional author.

This book was so unbelievable and poorly done, that my two year old grandson could have done a better job. And he can't even read or write yet. Much like the author of this book.

There are so many things wrong with this book that I don't know where to start. As other reviewers have said the characters were one dimensional and unbelievable, the plot was poorly executed and the ending was incredibly weak. There was absolutely no resolution.

Let me give you four examples of why this book was so far out of touch with reality...

1. The main character, a brilliant cardio vascular surgeon, keeps hitting people and ending up in jail. No real surgeon would risk his hands this way. No real surgeon has this little self control. And oddly, this macho man is named "Kim."
2. In Robin Cook's world, it is possible to find a Mexican who will murder people for you, dispose of their body and hide their car for $100. Even in Mexico, this would cost a lot more.
3. Dr. Kim's only child, a beautiful 10 year old girl, dies due to food poisoning, and Kim and his ex-wife Tracy don't seem to be that upset about it. Rather than greiving, he embarks on a crusade against the USDA and the meat packing industry, hitting people and getting arrested a lot.
4. At one point Kim and his ex-wife Tracy graple with the idea of either finding the out how the meat was contaminated, to save the lives of other children.... or of running off to Sweeden in protest! Because in Sweeden "they don't have contaminated meat. They pay a little more, but it's worth it!"

Did Robin Cook really write this pile of crap?

This is the first-- and only-- of Robin Cook's books I read. Perhaps he does better work when the subject is something he's better versed on. However, it looks like he got his information for this book from some unholy combination of PETA and Michael Moore.

Our protagonist is presumably Dr. Regis, who is unfortunately an ill-informed egotistical temperamental idiot. He has to have a random stranger in an elevator tell him how many cases there are hospitalizations resulting from e. coli every year. He seems completely unaware that hundreds of benign strains of e. coli exist. He throws temper tantrums at professionals. He interrupts his own child's surgery, something that would most certainly not be allowed in any hospital I've been to, doctor-to-doctor friendliness or not. We're supposed to be cheering for this guy? Sure, he's got a kid in trouble, but he doesn't have to be a jerk about it.

Next, we have the vegetarian meat inspector. Um....okay. Perhaps in the utopia Mr. Cook grew up in, animals went straight from being alive and animated to meat in a tube, but in reality, they have to be slaughtered. And most of us who have spent any time at all in the country have no compunction about gutting fish or slaughtering a cow. It's morally dichotomous at best to indict a whole industry based on your squeamishness about slaughterhouses and stockyards.

How 'bout the rednecks driving around in a beat-up pickup truck collecting diseased animals to sell to stockyards? Like ANY corporate stockyard would inherit the huge liability risk associated with procuring animals from an unknown source. Sorry, just doesn't happen, but thanks for engaging in the stereotype!

And on and on it goes-- poorly researched, blatantly biased writing that tries to make a human interest story out of corporate evil and ignorance, but unfortunately is an indictment only of the author's willful ignorance.

I haven't written a review for a book I've read in awhile (I rate them and move on these days) but seeing all the negative reviews this book has gotten, I had to comment.

Robin cook excels at weaving well reasearched truths in the realm of fiction.

engaging characters, a plot that COULD happen and great pacing are what makes him such a great author and makes Toxin such an engaging read.

The ending leaves you wanting more which could be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it.

I won't spoil it for anyone though ;)

Fantastic book and another example of why Cook's become one of my favorite authors. His subject matter is always interesting and his medical and technical jargon never goes over the reader's head. He entertains and sometimes educates at the same time.

I know not every book is going to be to everybody's liking, but I think some of the reviews below were overly harsh.

Entertaining, informative, engaging.

Although the action was fast paced & continuous, I found the plot in general quite predictable & with a bit of loopholes. It was interesting to note though the effects of mergers/buyouts on the healthcare sector & the resuting power struggle within by remaining staff against 'new management'. How it affected their service & how the patients suffered from such 'politics'. That is very real.
What I found quite unrealistic was Kim's decision to work underground in the slaughter house with the intention of obtaining some important papers as evidence of QC failure. This may be an act of desparation but which I found quite out of line for the character.
In general, the book was a good weekend read. (This review pertains to Reader's Digest abridged version of the novel.)

Toxin didn't scare me away from eating meat, it just made me reassess where I buy it. We have local slaughterhouses which are noting like the one Cook portrays. I know because we actually take animals there to be slaughtered and then use the meat ourselves, so we've checked the places out. But Cook isn't the only source I've read that has indicted the larger slaughterhouses and meat packing plants. His characters may seem stereotyped, but the statistics are pretty clear as to who the slaughterhouse workers are in large plants.
I now buy my hamburg at a local store that grinds their own while you watch. I don't eat rare hamburgers (although I greatly prefer them!) and I'm not eating fast food burgers. It was clear in the story just how contamination can occur even when the restaurant's official protocol is flawless.
BTW I hate HMO's. We have the choice between managed care and traditional insurance and despite the extra cost we continue to opt for traditional insurance. Cook's books have only reinforced that decision.
Robin Cook's novels may be "fast food" rather than great literature, but if they educate one person who wouldn't read more serious scientific literature and save even one life as a result then they are worth being published.
Read Toxin and you'll never take E-Coli lightly again.