Manner of Death

Informationen zum Autor Robin Cook Klappentext "Due to Jack Stapleton's ongoing recovery from his near-death confrontation with a serial killer, his wife Laurie Montgomery, the NYC chief medical examiner, is carrying the load both at work and at home. When she insists an underperforming pathology resident named Ryan Sullivan assist her on a suicide autopsy, Laurie unknowingly provokes an emotional storm in the trainee. So, when Ryan himself appears on the medical examiner's table days later, an apparent death by suicide, Laurie's guilt compels her to try to understand why. Jack's autopsy on the resident opens the disturbing possibility that the manner of death wasn't suicide but instead a staged homicide. But staged by whom? Laurie ignores her own professional rules and responsibilities to investigate personally who might want Ryan dead...and for what reason. Thus begins a dangerous inquiry into a fraudulent but highly lucrative cancer diagnostics company, which might just cost Laurie her life"-- Leseprobe CHAPTER 1 Thursday, December 7, 5:45 am Laurie Montgomery woke up with a start at the sound of her smartphone's alarm. It was the default radar sound and wasn't terribly loud, but as if in a panic, she snatched the phone up from the bedside table to turn it off as if her life depended on it. Ever since she was a teenager, wake-up alarms had triggered a kind of fight-or-flight reaction that she'd never been able to control. Back then she'd been fearful that she'd be late to school and suffer the consequences even though she'd never been tardy. Eventually, when she had developed more insight into herself, she had an inkling the habit stemmed from conditioned fear of authority figures like the school principal and a concern of evoking their ire, which she attributed to her authoritarian and emotionally distant cardiac surgeon father. After turning off the blasted alarm, she allowed herself to sink back under the covers for a few moments to calm down and prepare herself for the busy day ahead. She also glanced over at Jack to give him the first of several anticipated nudges. The result was the second shock of the young day: He was not there! Sitting back up again in the early-morning darkness with just a hint of the coming dawn seeping through the two windows that overlooked 106th Street in Manhattan's Upper West Side, she strained her ears to pick up any unusual sounds in the morning stillness. As a mother her first thought was always about her children, Jack Jr.-JJ-who was thirteen, and Emma, seven, wondering if one of them had awakened and aroused Jack. The other possibility was that something was amiss with Dorothy, her mother, who was still living with them following the death of Laurie's father. With a bit of relief, she quickly became aware of the distant but reassuring sound of the shower. Obviously, Jack had just gotten up without disturbing her and was already showering. Allowing herself to sink back once again into the warmth of the bed, Laurie vaguely wondered what had awakened Jack. Since his scary bike incident a year ago when he'd been targeted by a murderous driver, necessitating a lengthy recovery from the hip and fibula fractures of his right leg, she'd been the one to wake him in the morning rather than vice versa, despite her always having had trouble waking up in the morning. The reason was simple: She was a night person who liked to unwind by reading in bed-usually longer than she should-before turning out the light. Back in the good old days of college, medical school, and even after becoming a medical examiner, she'd usually read nineteenth-century British novels. But once she'd agreed to take on the role of chief medical examiner of the City of New York, all that changed. Now Laurie's nighttime, in-bed reading was all work-related, as she felt there was always some additional details she desperately needed to review despite her havi...

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Robin Cook
• Editore: Putnam Publishing Group
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Pubblicazione: 05.12.2023
• EAN: 9780593713891
• ISBN: 978-0-593-71389-1
• Pagine: 352
• Dimensioni: 158 mm x 236 mm x 30 mm
• Serie: A Jack Stapleton & Laurie Montgomery Novel
• Categoria: Narrativa > Gialli