Robin Cook: Shock (USA 2002)

From the Publisher:
Deborah Cochrane and Joanna Meissner, graduate science students and close friends, spot a campus newspaper ad that promises to solve their financial problems: an exclusive, highly profitable fertility clinic on Boston's North Shore is looking for egg donors. Deborah and Joanna figure they can do a good deed - help infertile couples - and earn money. Although rumors of a fellow student donor's unexplained disappearance surface, the duo is not deterred.

The procedures seem to go smoothly. Deborah is particularly intrigued by the technology involved and by Dr. Spencer Windgate, the charismatic fertility expert responsible for the clinic's success. But second thoughts and curiosity prompt the two women to find out more about the fate of their donated eggs. Stymied by the clinic's veil of secrecy, Deborah and Joanna obtain employment there to continue their probe. Working under aliases, they soon discover the horrifying aims of Dr. Windgate's research, immediately putting their lives - and their sanity - irrevocably at risk.

Posited on up-to-the-minute science, Shock finds Robin Cook at the uncertain crossroads of medical technology and ethics.

Robin Cook: Shock. Berkley Publishing Group, ISBN: 042518286X (September, 2002), 338 p., $7.99.

Robin Cook: Shock (UK 2001)

From the Publisher:
Students and close friends Deborah Cochrane and Joanna Meissner have spotted a newspaper ad that may solve their financial problems. An exclusive and highly profitable fertility clinic on Boston's North Shore is looking for female donors, so they reckon they can do a bit of good by helping infertile couples while earning some money for themselves. Even when dark rumours surface of a previous donor's unexplained disappearance, the two young women remain undeterred.

Everything goes smoothly until second thoughts and curiosity prompt the pair to find out more. When stymied by a veil of secrecy, they even seek employment at the clinic in order to continue probing.

Working there under aliases, Deborah and Joanna soon discover the horrifying true nature of Dr Wingate's research - and immediately put their sanity, maybe even their lives, at risk.

Robin Cook: Shock. Macmillan, ISBN: 0333902807 (November, 2001), 342 p., £10.00.

Robin Cook: Shock (USA 2001)

From the Publisher:
Deborah Cochrane and Joanna Meissner, close friends and fellow grad students, respond to a campus 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 personnel. 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 from their donations, Deborah's and Joanna's circumstances change dramatically. After using the lion's 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 had imagined.

Bestselling novelist Dr. Robin Cook is currently on leave from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He lives in and works in Florida.

Robin Cook: Shock. Putnam's, ISBN: 0399146008 (September, 2001), 370 p., $24.95.