Medical Fiction/Literature
Explore the best medical fiction and literature with our curated list of gripping books. Discover thrilling novels, dramas, and stories set in the world of medicine, perfect for fans of healthcare-themed fiction.
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First, Do No Harm
by Lisa Belkin
"A powerful, true story of life and death in a major metropolitan hospital...Harrowing... An important book." THE NEW YORK TIMES What is life worth? And what is a life worth living? At a time when America faces vital choices about the future of its health care, former NEW YORK TIMES correspondent Lisa Belkin takes a powerful and poignant look at the inner workings of Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas, telling the remarkable, real-life stories of the doctors, patients, families, and hospital administrators who must ask--and ultimately answer--the most profound and heart-rendng questions about life and death.
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Brain Warp
by Gil Snider
"Who is poisoning the homeless men of Manhattan, and why? When a cluster of inexplicable deaths plague Dr. Peter Branstead's neurology service at St. Mark's hospital in Greenwich Village, his investigation leads him far beyond the boundaries of the hospital, Lower Manhattan or even the United States, and into a deadly game of international intrigue and danger ... Peter must unravel the mystery of these murders, discover the antidote and foil the plot by heading right into the conspirator's den"--Cover.
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Standard of Care
by David Kerns
A tale of ethical crisis and redemption, Standard of Care is one doctor's tumultuous journey as a senior executive in America's largest and most predatory hospital corporation. Weary of the tedium and diminishing returns of twenty-five years of private practice, Dr. Daniel Fazen becomes the new senior medical executive, the guardian of quality patient care, at Walnut Creek Memorial, his long-cherished community hospital. Without warning, eleven months later, Memorial is acquired by the Olympia Healthcare Corporation, the largest and, he knows, the most ruthless for-profit hospital conglomerate in America. At age fifty-five, with a taste for the good life and years of tuition ahead for his kids, Dan ponders a six figure incentive. With reservations-and rationalizations-he stays with Olympia. And so begins a downhill debacle...
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Mortal Remains
by Peter Clement
In a small upstate New York town, an idyllic lake yields a ghastly discovery when the skeletal remains of a young woman missing for twenty-seven years are pulled from the icy depths—along with unmistakable evidence of her murder. Suddenly, the long-dormant case of Kelly McShane Braden’s mysterious disappearance is reactivated. And for two devastated men, dark emotions and disturbing secrets will also rise to the surface. For local coroner Dr. Mark Roper, the murder is more than just a grim interruption of his general practice in sleepy Hampton Junction. Kelly Braden had been a surrogate sister. When the police insist the trail of Kelly’s disappearance is too cold to pick up again, he vows to find the missing pieces of the past that will lead him to a killer. Because that’s what cracks cold cases: “One guy who can’t get it out of his head.” Yet Mark isn’t the only one with Kelly’s murder on his mind. Dr. Earl Garnet, chief of staff at Buffalo’s St. Paul’s Hospital, was once Kelly’s secret lover . . . and would-be savior. Until his plans to rescue her from an abusive marriage were cut short by her vanishing. Now, as the last person to see Kelly alive, he’s in danger of becoming the prime suspect, unless he can unmask the murderer first. But neither man knows about the twisted chain of lies and corruption that led to Kelly’s death—or the shocking revelations that were meant to go with her to a watery grave. And the harder they push for answers, the easier they make it for their lethal quarry to zero in on them—and push back with deadly force. With Mortal Remains, Peter Clement remains in total control of readers’ nerves from the very first page, once more wielding heart-racing suspense and scalpel-sharp terror with a master surgeon’s skill.
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The Cutting Season
by Arthur Rosenfeld
Believing himself to be a reincarnated Chinese warrior, neurosurgeon Xenon Pearl is instructed by his late martial arts master to use his talents to promote justice as well as healing, a directive that poses difficult moral uncertainties.
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The Forest and the Trees
by Benjamin W. Strong
A realistic but humorous look at the workings of both bodies and hospitals, The Forest and the Trees is written for the enjoyment of medical professionals and the lay public alike. This story of Midlin's medical education covers the first six months of his internship, a period filled with role models, competitors, and nemeses. Midlin immerses himself in his new culture of memorization and repetition and soon feels master of every situation. Only in the surprising conclusion does he realize the shortcomings of his beloved approach to medicine, and readers will find this revealing view of our medical establishment as thought-provoking.
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Informed Consent
by Sandra Glahn
Jeremy Cramer, M.D. is the next Einstein of infectious disease research. While working on a way to revive water submersion victims, he makes a breakthrough discovery in AIDS research that thrusts him into the center of a media frenzy. But the publicity turns negative and his marriage reaches the breaking point when he accidentally infects a colleague and his negligence allows his son to contract a lifethreatening disease. The viruses test the limits of his new formula and his ethics. In his frantic efforts to save his son and his marriage, he must decide whether to allow his child to die or violate the rights of a young transplant donor. The choice forces him to stand face-to-face with the unfathomable love required to sacrifice an only son. Features and Benefits Explores multi-faced biomedical issues from a point of view that's sympathetic to a Christian worldview without all the main characters believing. Unique in its portrayal of patients' rights issues. Considers dilemmas taken from today's headlines. Provides a compassionate look at AIDS that does not blame the victim.
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The Inquisitor
by Peter Clement
When an increasing number of cancer patients begin to complain about their out-of-body experiences, Earl Garnet, the newly appointed VP of a SARS-infested hospital, becomes suspicious, but his investigation into the phenomenon uncovers dangerous secrets that he never expected. By the author of Mortal Remains. 17,500 first printing.
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Invasive Procedures
by Orson Scott Card
Frank Hartman, a virologist working for the government's top-secret biohazard agency, is the only man capable of stopping George Galen, a geneticist who has discovered how to "improve" humans by making them stronger, healthier, and compliant to his will.
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Second Opinion
by C. Robert Umana
Confronted with severe heart pain, Rodolfo Marquez MD goes to his best friends for treatment. A few months after his heart surgery, the heart pain returns. His friends decide there is nothing else to do. Rodolfo goes to a different city for a Second Opinion and discovers that all his bypasses have been placed on the wrong arteries. As he consults local doctors, he finds non of them wants to get involved in his case. Affraid of any legal or financial repercussions, they abandon him to his fate. The pain worsens; death seems imminent. Rodolfo, finally, goes to an out of state university and gets his heart treated. At his return, he finds the local doctors and his hospital had turn against him.
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Smokescreen
by Vernon L. Avila
Avila pens a gripping medical thriller of a political conspiracy to incapacitate the President of the United States, Clint Walker, who readers meet in the opening scene as he is stricken with a torturous headache and is quickly consumed by confusion, memory loss and dementia. He collapses on the floor in convulsions and the Secret Service rushes him to the hospital in a race against death.
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Hana's Secret
by Jack Langley
Jack Davidson, a general surgeon at Midsouth Regional Medical Center in Evansville, N.C. accidentally stumbles upon a plot involving sham surgery being performed at his institution. Being Chief of Surgery at Midsouth, and driven by a high sense of responsibility to the Hippocratic Oath, he begins a solo quest to discover the person or persons and motives behind the dastardly scheme. Dr. Davidson finds that his initial suspicions only touch the tip of the iceberg and that he will ultimately come close to forfeiting his own life in his attempt to solve the mystery. Join him as the quest takes him from North Carolina to a small town in Maui that holds the answers to solving the mystery of Hana's Secret.
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Vow of Vengeance
by Ray Dreyfack
Square Deal Health Options' bible-spouting CEO and his hit man, The Lieutenant, stop at nothing to stretch profits. Failing to find incriminating evidence, they manufacture their own. The HMO's abuses range from illegal health care denial to blackmail, kidnapping and homicide. Caring physician and grieving widower David Green heads a committee to uncover HMO abuses. The Lieutenant is assigned to eliminate "troublemakers". A committee member's car is forced over a guard-rail. A crusading reporter is car-bombed. David's rambunctious son Chip, intent on bringing closure to Dad's grief, tricks him into a tennis game with tennis coach, "Sam". Sam turns out to be sexy Samantha, whose deceased husband was also a victim of Square Deal's treatment denial. David and Sam fall in love and go at it hot and heavy. As the novel races on so does their love affair and the downfall of Square Deal and its evil chief executive.
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Foreign Body
by Robin Cook
A series of unexplained deaths in foreign hospitals sends Jennifer Hernandez, an idealistic UCLA medical student, on a desperate search for answers about her grandmother's sudden death. With the discovery of other unexplained deaths followed by hasty cre
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Grey's Anatomy
by Chris Van Dusen
A sexy, high-concept, behind-the-scenes peek at the lives and loves of Seattle Grace's most popular doctors . . . On ABC's mega-hit Grey's Anatomy, when surgical interns Meredith, Cristina, Izzie, George, and Alex (not to mention neurosurgeon Derek, aka Dr. McDreamy) arent putting in long hours at Seattle Grace Hospital, theyre flirting, gossiping, and drowning their sorrows at the Emerald City Bar. In one location, Nurse Debbie sees it all; in the other, Joe the bartender hears it all . . . Grey's Anatomy is styled as two books in one -- read from one side to get Debbie's hospital scuttlebutt, and from the other for Joe's alcohol-fueled tidbits. Notes from the Nurse's Station and Overheard at the Emerald City Bar are packed with new information on pivotal events. This is the book the show's millions of fans cant wait to read.
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The Grey's Anatomy Guide to Healing with Love
by Sydney Heron
In this hilarious, tongue-in-cheek compilation of the "Grey's Anatomy" character's self-help strategies, Sydney sheds new light on familiar plot points, offers exclusive character insights, and tells stories that never appeared onscreen.
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Critical
by Robin Cook
New York City medical examiners Laurie Montgomery and Jack Stapleton return in this stunning new novel from the 'master of the medical thriller' (New York Times) a ripped-from-the-headlines tale of an innovative doctor's dangerous downward spiral.
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Fever
by Robin Cook
A renowned doctor’s quest to find the source of—and a cure for—his daughter’s sudden illness leads him into the heart of a lethal mystery in this “brilliant” (Associated Press) novel from the #1 bestselling “master of the medical thriller” (The New York Times). “A passionate, riveting, chilling drama.”—Cosmopolitan Dr. Charles Martel, a brilliant cancer researcher, was forced to stand helplessly by as his first wife died slowly, agonizingly of cancer. Now he and his second wife, Cathryn, receive the shattering news that his eleven-year-old daughter, Michelle, is being attacked by the same disease. This time Charles is going to do something. Even if the cause is a chemical plant conspiracy that not only promises to kill her but will destroy him as a man and doctor if he tries to fight it.
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Crisis
by Robin Cook
Shocked and humiliated by a medical malpractice lawsuit, physician Craig Bowman receives help from his estranged brother-in-law, medical examiner Jack Stapleton, who discovers trouble after exhuming the body of Craig's alleged victim.
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The Year of the Intern
by Robin Cook
The nurse's voice on the phone is desperate, but young Dr. Peters, in his first weeks of internship, is only bone-tired and a little afraid. He has forgotten when he last slept. Yet he knows that in the coming hours he will have to make life-or-death decisions regarding patients, assist contemptuous surgeons in the operating room, deal with nurses who may know more than he does, cope with worried relatives and friends of the injured and ill, and pretend at all times to be what he has not yet become--a fully qualified doctor. This book is about what happens to a young intern as he goes through the year that promises to make him into a doctor, and threatens to destroy him as a human being--
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Brain
by Robin Cook
The bestselling “master of the medical thriller” (The New York Times) delivers a terrifying case of an otherwise healthy woman who dies on the operating table, and the conspiracy surrounding her death that follows... When a healthy young woman’s routine checkup ends with her seizing in the doctor’s office, Dr. Martin Philips becomes convinced that something is terribly wrong. Why would a 21-year-old woman in peak physical condition die on the operating table—and then have her brain secretly removed? An inexplicable rash of female patients exhibiting bizarre psychotic and sexual behavior has Dr. Philips very, very concerned—and afraid. Something is wrong in the great medical research center where he and his lover Dr. Denise Sanger work, and they place their careers and very lives in jeopardy as they penetrate the eerie inner sanctums of a medical world gone mad with technological power and the lust for more.
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Sphinx
by Robin Cook
New York Times bestselling author mines the mysteries of Egypt’s magnificent past to deliver a one-of-a-kind thriller packed with compelling realism and unrelenting suspense. Traveling to Egypt is a dream come true for Erica Baron. An Egyptologist, she longs to walk among the temples and monuments of its long-dead civilizations. But when she stumbles upon a clue to a legendary treasure, the most fearful curse of the ancient world and the most savage menace of the modern one threaten to destroy her. It was the magic and mystery of an empire long past that drew Erica to explore, but now, that same mystery that may have become her deadliest snare...
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Harmful Intent
by Robin Cook
A physician turned fugitive must save himself and stop a lethal drug-tampering plot in Robin Cook's most disturbing techno-chiller yet. Anesthesiologist Dr. Jeffrey Rhodes's nightmare begins with nerve-shattering swiftness, but it will haunt him always: he administers routine anesthesia during a normal birth. Suddenly the young, healthy mother goes into inexplicable seizures and dies; her infant survives but is severely disabled and brain damaged. But the living nightmare is only beginning: sued first for malpractice, then brought up on criminal charges, Jeffrey is convicted of malpractice—to the tune of $11 million—then of harmful intent and reckless disregard for human life...second-degree murder carrying a mandatory prison term. A ruined man, Jeffrey must pull himself from the depths of despair to try to salvage the wreckage of his life. A subtle clue puts him and Nurse Kelly Everson on the trail of a crazed killer. With Kelly's aid, Jeffrey remains in hiding in order to find the truth and gain the evidence he needs to prevent more "malpractice" deaths and to clear his name. But that truth is even more shocking than Jeffrey imagined. For there is a third dimension to the whole affair that neither he nor Kelly could have anticipated...
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Godplayer
by Robin Cook
Cassandra Cassidy, a beautiful psychiatrist, attempts to stop the mysterious killings of terminally ill patients as she struggles to save her crumbling marriage to Thomas Kingsley, a charismatic cardiac surgeon.
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Mortal Fear
by Robin Cook
Internist Jason Howard believes that eminent geneticist Dr. Alvin Hayes was murdered and that the key to his death lies hidden in the Boston Health Care Clinic's molecular genetics lab
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Fatal Cure
by Robin Cook
Leaving their urban hospital for a modern medical facility in Bartlet, Vermont, Doctors Angela and David Wilson begin to notice puzzling details in the deaths of several terminal patients there
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Vital Signs
by Robin Cook
The bestselling “master of the medical thriller” (The New York Times) tells a harrowing tale of the lengths one doctor will go to in order to conceive—and the conspiracy that may be at the root of her struggles. Dr. Marissa Blumenthal’s dream of becoming pregnant has turned into an obsession. A successful pediatrician, she will try any scientific method available to conceive—until the horrible secrets of an urban clinic erupt in a nightmare of staggering proportions. As more women reveal their similar struggles and as suspicious deaths begin to look like murder, it’s up to Marissa to uncover the truth behind her plight, no matter how dangerous a mission that might be. “Controversial... believable and chilling.”—Houston Chronicle
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Contagion
by Robin Cook
The New York Times best-seller narrates the cautionary tale of a deadly epidemic spread not only by microbes but by sinister sabotage designed to bring down the corporate titans of health care. Reissue.
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Terminal
by Robin Cook
“Like a runaway locomotive—a manically entertaining thriller. Robin Cook knows how to make the pages fly.”—Kirkus Reviews At a prestigious Florida medical center, brain cancer patients are treated with a 100% success rate. Sean Murphy, a young medical student, finds it hard to believe. Is it a miracle cure? Or the biggest con job in the history of medicine? As Sean delves deeper into the mystery, he begins to uncover secrets that get at the heart of a nearly unbelievable conspiracy he never could have imagined...
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Marker
by Robin Cook
The master of the medical thriller returns with his most heart-pounding tale yet. Twenty-eight-year-old Sean McGillin is the picture of health, until he fractures his leg while in-line skating in New York City's Central Park. Within twenty-four hours of his surgery, he dies. A thirty-six-year-old mother, Darlene Morgan, has knee surgery to repair a torn ligament in her knee. And within twenty-four hours, she has died. New York City medical examiners Dr. Laurie Montgomery and Dr. Jack Stapleton are back, in Robin Cook's electrifying twenty-fifth novel. Last seen in Vector, the doctors confront a series of puzzling hospital deaths of young, healthy people after successful routine surgery. Despite institutional resistance from her superiors, as well as from those at Manhattan General, Laurie doggedly pursues the investigation. Though it seems impossible to determine why and how the patients are dying, she comes to suspect that not only are the deaths related-they're intentional, suggesting the work of a remarkably clever serial killer with a very unusual motive, involving frightening ties to both developing genomic medicine and the economics of modern-day health care. Then Laurie is dealt a double blow: While coping with Jack's inability to commit to their relationship, she discovers she carries a genetic marker for a breast-cancer gene. As her personal life continues to unravel, the need for answers becomes more urgent, especially when Laurie is pulled into the nightmare as a potential victim herself. With time winding down, she and Jack race to connect the dots-and save Laurie's life. With his signature blend of suspense and science, Robin Cook delivers an electrifying page-turner as vivid as today's headlines.
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Invasion
by Robin Cook
New York Times bestselling author Robin Cook’s “pressure cooker of a thriller” (Booklist) takes medical technology into a new realm, where everything we know about the human body—and the universe we live in—is about to be challenged. Everyone assumes it’s just the flu—but when a powerful virus causes unexplained symptoms, the few left uninfected must discover a cure before they catch it, too... After Cassy Winthrope’s boyfriend Beau displays brief, flu-like symptoms, he begins to act strangely. His body is stronger and faster, his mind shaprer. And suddenly the straight-edged guy who never skips class and hates big dogs is playing hooky and walking around with a bullmastiff. Once Cassy shares these observations with their mutual friend Pitt, the pair notice that almost everyone else in their small college town seems to be infected with the same virus that Beau has. Could it be connected to the tiny black disks appearing everywhere, stinging those who pick them up? Recruiting members of the community and medical experts unexposed to the disease that’s defying all diagnoses, Cassy knows she’s in a race against time. But can she figure out how to save the people she cares for—before it’s too late to reverse the changes?
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Toxin
by Robin Cook
When his daughter, Becky, becomes ill from bacterial poisoning, Dr. Kim Reggis, a cardiac surgeon, is determined to track down the cause, no matter what the cost
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Outbreak
by Robin Cook
Murder and mystery reach epidemic proportions when a devastating plague sweeps the country in this “harrowing medical horror story” (The New York Times) from the #1 bestselling author of Coma “The ultimate nightmare . . . spine-tingling intrigue and fever-pitched action.”—Associated Press When the director of a Los Angeles health maintenance clinic succumbs, along with seven patients, to an untreatable—and virulently contagious—virus, Dr. Melissa Blumenthal is assigned by the Centers for Disease Control to investigate. The California case is merely the first in a burgeoning series of outbreaks that occur in unrelated geographical areas but with puzzling commonalities: The locations are always healthcare facilities, and their victims are only physicians and their patients. As her investigation takes increasingly bizarre turns, Melissa finds that behind the natural threat lurks a far more sinister possibility—sabotage—and soon finds herself facing the wrath of a powerful cabal, sworn to achieve its aims, no matter what the cost in human life—including Melissa’s.
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Chromosome 6
by Robin Cook
“Master of the medical thriller.”—The New York Times In his most prophetic thriller yet, Robin Cook goes behind the headlines on cloning and genetic manipulation, blending fact with fiction in this terrifying bestseller. In the jungles of equatorial Africa, a biotechnology giant has taken transplant surgery and animal research to a new level—where one mistake could bridge the evolutionary gap between man and ape and forever change the genetic map of our existence. Meanwhile, in New York City, Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery are working on a seemingly unrelated murder of a mobster, only to find some very odd things once their victim is on the autopsy table...