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Michael Rushnak

Auteur de Terminal Neglect

3 oeuvres 13 utilisateurs 4 critiques

Œuvres de Michael Rushnak

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A taut medical thriller in which an idealistic state health commissioner runs afoul of greedy, unethical drug companies that will stop at nothing in pursuit of the almighty dollar.
 
Signalé
Jimbookbuff1963 | 3 autres critiques | Jun 5, 2021 |
3.0 out of 5 stars Big bad pharma...again, April 28, 2011

This review is from: Terminal Neglect (Hardcover)
This was a mediocre medical thriller with a fairly old story line -- big bad pharma makes a new drug and gets greedy in order to recoup their investment and make millions. Of course there is the hero doctor with a big conscience who won't compromise his personal ethics and that resistance comes at a huge cost. So, nothing new here with the plot and cardboard characters who are quite cliche.

Dr. Jonathan Rogers is tapped to be Surgeon General by the current US President. Because of his personal moral stand against giving blanket approval to certain practices by the pharmaceutical industry, however, he is targeted for reprisal. He is shot, he's diagnosed with lung cancer, his daughter is kidnapped, and his entire personal and professional life starts to unravel. Who can he trust? Everyone has an agenda to advance themselves into positions of power.

Dr. Rogers and his estranged wife Kim are told not to contact authorities about their missing daughter or she will be killed. Doctors Choice Pharmaceuticals -- the manufacturer of a new cancer drug, seems to be implicated in both the kidnapping and in all the other things that are happening in Jonathan's life. Will he be able to stop the evil pharmaceutical industry and a secret organization of people in positions of high authority called The Health Club, from pushing their drug and encouraging oncologists to prescribe it to cancer patients even though the drug has not proved efficacious in the treatment of most of those cancers?

The book moved along quickly with shuffles between point of view and different characters. Although a completely predictable read, it did require some suspension of disbelief as the cross and double cross of the characters played out.

Pass on this one! I'm a lover of medical thrillers and this story line is tired. I think most people know that the pharmaceutical industry is a huge business and that sometimes they get greedy as new drugs cost so much to bring to the market. How about something NEW?
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Signalé
CelticLibrarian | 3 autres critiques | May 2, 2011 |
Terminal Neglect was almost impossible for me to finish. The premise had promise: A doctor fighting against corrupt pharmaceutical companies who were paying off politicians to push drugs through the FDA, looking for a quick buck at risk to others. We supposedly have a hero, a champion of justice, who in my opinion is unbelievable. The man is a doctor and the Michigan state Commissioner of Health, yet he seems to have absolutely no political acumen, he's a trusting babe. Dr. Rogers seems to successfully ignore anything that does not fit into what he wants to believe until it is impossible not to.

Not only is Dr. Rogers hard to fathom as a character, the writing leaves a lot to be desired. Anytime that a main character (on the good side) has a choice or a reaction to give to a situation, they always make the worst decision. On top of bad decisions, they make ones which do not follow their personalities. Many decisions come from where the author needs the story to go. There is also the complete lack of anyone able to see a chain of events as related. Some of the scenes don't seem to have any bearing on the story other than to allow another pointless scene later. The time line is chaotic and very hard to follow or believe.

Shortly after a disappointing meeting with the President of the United States regarding the position of Surgeon General, Dr. Rogers is shot. For 2/3rds of the book, every time he is asked if his intentions have changed regarding the Surgeon General position, he says no and something bad happens. The job is obviously being used as a carrot but he doesn't see this nor connect the punishments with the 'stick'. When his daughter is kidnapped his behavior becomes even more erratic. He tends to drive away people he should trust and trust people he should obviously question. Most of the book is Dr. Rogers reacting to situations thrust upon him by a malevolent group.

Oh and the villain is 'bad'. In all senses of the word. He's evil, he's greedy, he's vindictive, he's powerful and he's poorly thought out. The man is the head of a large pharmaceutical company and while ambition can explain many of his actions he goes into 'Dr. Evil' mode and wants to 'take over the world'. It's also hard to believe that Dr. Rogers is the one man who all these plans will hinge on.

To sum up, while the basic plot sounded great and had even better potential, the story reads like it was told by an 8th grader. Situations of convenience would pop up, characters reactions were suspect and at the will of the story teller's vision not the story or themselves. Overall I was very disappointed in reading this book, I kept hoping the end would justify the rest of the book but I am afraid it didn't even come close. I intend to make note of the blurbers (the 'this is a great book' people) on the cover because they obviously didn't bother reading the book or have any idea what constitutes good writing.
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Signalé
readafew | 3 autres critiques | Mar 9, 2010 |
Terminal Neglect by Michael Rushnak is a fast paced medical thriller involving drug companies, doctors, and high powered politicians. Medical mysteries and thrillers are favorites of mine, and Terminal Neglect did not disappoint. Attempted murder, kidnapping and deception create the action and adventure in this story of The Health Club, a mysterious and criminal organization. The plot moved very quickly as the main character, Dr. Rogers, tries to prevent a killer drug from making it to the market. I enjoyed his fight to do what was right while battling criminal actions on all sides and his efforts to protect himself and his family.
I thought there was some emotion lacking from the character when his daughter was in danger, but that is a minor complaint in this interesting thriller. Some of the situations in the book are all too true-to-life and some are pure fiction, but they all work together to make an adventure-filled read.
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Signalé
Tmtrvlr | 3 autres critiques | Mar 6, 2010 |

Statistiques

Œuvres
3
Membres
13
Popularité
#774,335
Évaluation
½ 3.6
Critiques
4
ISBN
5