VIRAL

SYNOPSIS

Trying to find some normalcy during the Covid-19 pandemic, Brian Murphy and his family are on a summer excursion in Cape Cod when his wife, Emma, comes down with concerning flu-like symptoms. But their leisurely return home to New York City quickly becomes a race to the local hospital as she suddenly begins seizing in the car. At the ICU, she is diagnosed with eastern equine encephalitis, a rare and highly lethal mosquito-borne viral disease seemingly caught during one of their evening cookouts. Complicating the situation further, Brian and Emma’s young daughter then begins to exhibit alarming physical and behavioral symptoms, too.

 

Emma’s harrowing hospital stay becomes even more fraught when Brian receives a staggering hospital bill full of outrageous charges and murky language. To add insult to injury, his health insurance company refuses to cover any of the cost, citing dubious clauses in Brian’s policy. Forced to choose between the ongoing care of family and bills he can never pay, and furious at a shockingly indifferent healthcare system, Brian vows to seek justice. But to get to the bottom of the predatory practices targeting his loved ones and countless others, he must uncover the dark side of an industry that has strayed drastically from its altruistic roots—and bring down the callous executives preying on the sick and defenseless before the virus can claim even more people.

Title: Viral

Author: Robin Cook

Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons

Publication date: August 17, 2021

REVIEW

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐💫

Thanks to PRH International, NetGalley and Putnam for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Robin Cook is another one of those authors I’ve been reading most of my adult life. I still remember reading some of his first books when I was a teen. While I’ve enjoyed some of them more than others I can’t imagine a year without one of his books. 

Viral wasn’t what I was expecting at all but I still managed to enjoy it. I thought it would be a medical thriller but it was more of a family drama about the consequences of a mosquito bite and how such an innocuous act could make your whole life crumble to pieces.

After finishing it I could only be thankful for living in a country with a great public healthcare system. I had to stop reading from time to time cause I became seriously incensed with some of the things Brian went through. The American healthcare system is simply outrageous. I’ve read some reviews complaining this book was just a way for the author to push his ideas and his own agenda (?), but I found it really enlightening, especially for those of us not living in the US.

The Covid crisis is part of the plot and I found interesting reading about it in a fiction work, cause it looks to me like most of the books being published nowadays just overlook it as if it wasn’t a thing still a year and a half later.

The middle part became a bit repetitive with the different hospital visits and Brian’s conversations with the insurance company and the hospital admin, although they brought to light many shocking practices. 

The ending was predictable but still yet I found myself biting my nails hoping everything went Brian’s way.

Although not the thriller I was expecting, it was an interesting story that made me learn about a system that needs some serious changes.