Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of Shock

Shock
Shock
Author: Robin Cook
Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Type: Hardcover
romeo avatar reviewed on + 334 more book reviews


Deborah Cochrane and Joanna Meissner, close friends and fellow grad students, respond to a newspaper ad that promises to solve their financial problems:an exclusive, highly profitable fertility clinic northwest of Boston is willing to pay top dollar to a few attractive, slim, athletic Ivy-league egg donors. The women are pleased to be accepted into the donor program by the Wingate Infertility Clinic, and the procedures are done quickly, with minimal inconvenience. Both women are impressed by the clinic and its personell. With her background in biology, Deborah applauds the organization's commitment to research, while Joanna is intrigued by the business aspect;she had no idea treating infertility was such a lucrative endeavor. With the money earned by their donations, Deborah's and Joanna's circumstances change dramatically. After using the lions share of the proceeds as a down payment on a two-bedroom condominium, the friends splurge on an extended trip to Venice. When they return, Joanna can't resist the urge to look into the fate of their donated eggs. Deborah is quickly drawn in, and curiosity turns into full-blown obsession as the pair is stymied by Wingate's iron veil of secrecy. The women remain undeterred, particularly after uncovering some disturbing irregularities at the clinic. And the truth they ultimately discover far exceeds the very worst they imagined.