View source for Robin Cook (American novelist)

{{Short description|American physician and novelist (born 1940)}}
{{Redirect|Robin Cook (novelist)|the UK novelist|Derek Raymond}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2013}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name   = Robin Cook
| caption  = Robin Cook in [[Warsaw]] (2008)
| image =  Robin Cook in Warsaw Poland 2008.jpg
| pseudonym  =
| birth_name = Robert Brian Cook
| birth_date  = {{birth date and age|1940|5|4}}
| birth_place  = Brooklyn, [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], United States
| death_date  =
| death_place  =
| occupation  = {{flatlist|
*[[Author]]
*[[surgeon]]
*[[ophthalmology|ophthalmologist]]
*[[aquanaut]]
}}
| genre  = [[Thriller (genre)|Thriller]]
| movement  =
| influences  =
| influenced  =
| education = [[Wesleyan University]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])<br>[[Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons]] ([[Doctor of Medicine|MD]])<br>[[Ophthalmology]] at [[Harvard University|Harvard]]<br>[[Public policy school|Public policy]] at [[Harvard Kennedy School]]<ref name="Naple News"/>
| relatives = Edgar Lee Cook (father)<br>Audrey Cook (mother)
| website  = {{URL|robincook.com}}
}}
'''Robert Brian''' "'''Robin'''" '''Cook''' (born May 4, 1940)<ref name="Stookey">Stookey, Lorena Laura (1996).  ''Robin Cook:  A Critical Companion'', [[Westport, Connecticut]], London: [[Greenwood Press]]. {{ISBN|0-313-29578-6}}</ref> is an American physician and novelist who writes largely about medicine and topics affecting [[public health]].

He is known best for combining medical writing with the [[Thriller (genre)|thriller]] genre. Many of his books have been bestsellers on [[The New York Times Bestseller List|''The New York Times'' Best Seller List]]. Several of his books have also been featured by ''[[Reader's Digest]]''. His books have sold nearly 400 million copies worldwide.<ref>[http://www.aeispeakers.com/print.php?SpeakerID=261 AEI Speakers], American Entertainment International Speakers Bureau. "Robin Cook Biography". Second and fifth paragraphs. Retrieved April 8, 2012.</ref>

==Early life and career==
Cook was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in [[Woodside, Queens]]. He relocated to [[Leonia, New Jersey]] when he was eight years old, where he could first have the "luxury" of having his own room.<ref name="NYT">{{cite web |last=Fabrikant |first=Geraldine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/21/business/talking-money-with-dr-robin-cook-prescription-real-estate-and-lots-of-it.html |title=TALKING MONEY WITH: DR. ROBIN COOK |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 21, 1996 |access-date=February 22, 2017}}</ref> He graduated from [[Leonia High School]] in 1958.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://leonia.pastperfectonline.com/photo/54BE2881-1E44-4CFC-8DE8-633909465252 | title=Dr. Robin Cook, Author | work=Local History Catalog | publisher=Leonia Public Library | access-date=December 19, 2023}}</ref>

Subsequently, Cook graduated from [[Wesleyan University]] and [[Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons]], and finished his postgraduate medical training at [[Harvard]].<ref name="Naple News">[http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2012/mar/27/cooking-another-medical-thriller/ Cooking Another Medical Thriller] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201224146/http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2012/mar/27/cooking-another-medical-thriller/ |date=February 1, 2014 }}, Naple News. By Sandy Reed. "Q&A about [Robin Cook's] 31st book and much more." Sixth paragraph. March 27, 2012. Retrieved April 7, 2012.</ref>

Cook managed the [[Cousteau Society]]'s [[blood-gas]] laboratory in the south of France. He later became an [[aquanaut]] (a submarine doctor) with the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]]'s [[SEALAB (United States Navy)|SEALAB]] program when he was drafted in 1969.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/investing/20060926b1.asp|title=Workaholic doctor-author says money never a goal|access-date=2007-10-08|author=Jay McDonald}}</ref> Cook served in the Navy from 1969 to 1971, attaining the rank of [[Lieutenant commander (United States)|lieutenant commander]]. He wrote his first novel, ''[[Year of the Intern]]'', while serving aboard the [[UGM-27 Polaris|Polaris]]-type submarine {{USS|Kamehameha|SSBN-642|6}}.<ref name="Stookey"/>

==Novelist==
''The Year of the Intern'', was a failure, but Cook began to study bestsellers.<ref name="NYT"/> He said, "I studied how the reader was manipulated by the writer. I came up with a list of techniques that I wrote down on index cards. And I used every one of them in ''Coma''."<ref name="NYT"/> He conceived the idea for ''[[Coma (novel)|Coma]]'', about creating illegally a supply of transplant organs, in 1975.<ref name="NYT"/> In March 1977, that novel's paperback rights sold for $800,000.<ref name="NYT"/> It was followed by the [[Egyptology]] thriller ''[[Sphinx (novel)|Sphinx]]'' in 1979 and another medical thriller, ''[[Brain (novel)|Brain]]'', in 1981.<ref name="NYT"/> Cook then decided he preferred writing rather than a medical career.<ref name="NYT"/>

Cook's novels combine medical fact with fantasy. His medical thrillers are designed, in part, to keep the public aware of both the technological possibilities of modern medicine and the socio-ethical problems associated with it.<ref name="Stookey"/>{{rp|73}} Cook says he chose to write thrillers because they give him "an opportunity to get the public interested in things about medicine that they didn't seem to know about. I believe my books are actually teaching people."<ref name="bio" />

The author admits he never thought that he would have such compelling material to work with when he began writing fiction in 1970. "If I tried to be the writer I am today a number of years ago, I wouldn't have very much to write about. But today, with the pace of change in biomedical research, there are any number of different issues, and new ones to come," he says.<ref name="shock">{{cite web|url=http://www.bookpage.com/0109bp/robin_cook.html|title=What a shock: Robin Cook fuses stem cells with a suspenseful tale|access-date=2007-10-08|author=Jay McDonald|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016063803/http://www.bookpage.com/0109bp/robin_cook.html|archive-date=October 16, 2007|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Cook's novels have anticipated national controversy. In an interview with Stephen McDonald about the novel ''[[Shock (novel)|Shock]]'', Cook admitted the book's timing was fortuitous:
{{blockquote|I suppose that you could say that it's the most like ''Coma'' in fact that it deals with an issue that everybody seems to be concerned about. I wrote this book to address the [[stem cell]] issue, which the public really doesn't know anything about. Besides entertaining readers, my main goal is to get people interested in some of these issues, because it's the public that ultimately should be able to decide which way we ought to go in something as ethically questioning as stem cell research.<ref name="shock"/>}}

To date, Cook has fictionalized issues such as [[organ donation]], [[fertility treatment]], [[genetic engineering]], [[In vitro fertilisation|''in vitro'' fertilization]], [[research funding]], [[managed care]], [[medical malpractice]], [[medical tourism]], drug research, and [[organ transplantation]].<ref name="bio">{{cite web|url=http://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm?author_number=188|title=Author Biography|access-date=2007-10-08}}</ref>

{{blockquote|"I joke that if my books stop selling, I can always fall back on brain surgery," he says. "But I am still very interested in it. If I had to do it over again, I would still study medicine. I think of myself more as a doctor who writes, rather than a writer who happens to be a doctor." He explained the popularity of his works thus: "The main reason is, we all realize we are at risk. We're all going to be patients sometime," he says. "You can write about great white sharks or haunted houses, and you can say I'm not going into the ocean or I'm not going in haunted houses, but you can't say you're not going to go into a hospital."<ref name ="shock" />}}

Many of his novels concern hospitals (both fictional and non-fictional) in Boston, which may have to do with the fact that he had his post-graduate training at Harvard and lives in Boston, and/ or in New York.

===Personal life===
He is on leave from the [[Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20078975,00.html|title=Dr. Robin Cook Has An Rx for Success: a Brain in the Bookstores and a Beauty at Home|last=Jennes|first=Gail|magazine=[[People (magazine)|People]]|volume=16|issue=13|date=1981-04-06|access-date=2016-01-30}}</ref>

Cook is a private member of the [[Woodrow Wilson Center]]'s Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees, directed by chairman Joseph B. Gildenhorn, are appointed to six-year terms by the President of the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=about.trustees|title=WilsonCenter.org : About : Woodrow Wilson Center Board of Trustees|access-date=2007-07-05|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070515083120/http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=about.trustees|archive-date=May 15, 2007|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

== Books ==
* ''[[Year of the Intern]]'' (1972), {{ISBN|978-0-451-16555-8}}
* ''[[Coma (novel)|Coma]]'' (1977), {{ISBN|978-0-451-20739-5}}
* ''[[Sphinx (novel)|Sphinx]]'' (1979), {{ISBN|978-0-451-15949-6}}
* ''[[Brain (novel)|Brain]]'' (1980), {{ISBN| 978-0-399-12563-8}}
* ''[[Fever (Cook novel)|Fever]]'' (1982), {{ISBN|978-0-425-17420-3}}
* ''[[Godplayer]]'' (1983), {{ISBN|978-0-425-17638-2}}
* ''[[Mindbend (novel)|Mindbend]]'' (1985), {{ISBN|978-0-451-14108-8}}
* ''[[Outbreak (novel)|Outbreak]]'' (1987), {{ISBN|978-0-425-10687-7}}
* ''[[Mortal Fear (Cook novel)|Mortal Fear]]'' (1988), {{ISBN|978-0-425-11388-2}}
* ''[[Mutation (novel)|Mutation]]'' (1989), {{ISBN|978-0-425-11965-5}}
* ''[[Harmful Intent]]'' (1990), {{ISBN|978-0-425-12546-5}}
* ''[[Vital Signs (novel)|Vital Signs]]'' (1991), {{ISBN|978-0-425-13176-3}}
* ''[[Terminal (Cook novel)|Terminal]]'' (1993), {{ISBN|978-0-425-15506-6}}
* ''[[Fatal Cure]]'' (1993), {{ISBN|978-0-425-14563-0}}
* ''[[Acceptable Risk (novel)|Acceptable Risk]]'' (1995), {{ISBN|978-0-425-15186-0}}
* ''[[Invasion (Cook novel)|Invasion]]'' (1997), {{ISBN|978-0-425-21957-7}}
* ''[[Toxin (novel)|Toxin]]'' (1998), {{ISBN|978-0-425-16661-1}}
* ''[[Abduction (novel)|Abduction]]'' (2000), {{ISBN|978-0-425-17736-5}}
* ''[[Shock (novel)|Shock]]'' (2001), {{ISBN|978-0-425-18286-4}}
* ''[[Seizure (Cook novel)|Seizure]]'' (2003), {{ISBN|978-0-425-19794-3}}
* ''Death Benefit'' (2011), {{ISBN|978-0-425-25036-5}}
* ''Nano'' (2013), {{ISBN|978-0-425-26134-7}}
* ''Cell'' (2014), {{ISBN|978-0-399-16630-3}}
* ''Host'' (2015), {{ISBN|978-0-399-17214-4}}
* ''Charlatans'' (2017), {{ISBN|978-0-735-21248-0}}
* ''Viral'' (2021), {{ISBN|978-0-593-32829-3}}
* ''Bellevue'' (2024), {{ISBN|978-0-593-71883-4}}

; ''[[Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery series]]''
# ''[[Blindsight (Cook novel)|Blindsight]]'' (1992), {{ISBN|978-0-425-13619-5}}
# ''Contagion'' (1995), {{ISBN|978-0-425-15594-3}}
# ''Chromosome 6'' (1997), {{ISBN|978-0-425-16124-1}}
# ''Vector'' (1999), {{ISBN|978-0-425-17299-5}}
# ''[[Marker (novel)|Marker]]'' (2005), {{ISBN|978-0-425-20734-5}}
# ''Crisis'' (2006), {{ISBN|978-0-425-21657-6}}
# ''Critical'' (2007), {{ISBN|978-0-425-22288-1}}
# ''Foreign Body'' (2008), {{ISBN|978-0-425-22895-1}}
# ''Intervention'' (2009), {{ISBN|978-0-425-23538-6}}
# ''Cure'' (2010), {{ISBN|978-0-425-24260-5}}
# [[Pandemic (2018 novel)|''Pandemic'' (2018)]], {{ISBN|978-0-525-53534-8}}
# ''Genesis'' (2019), {{ISBN|978-0-525-54215-5}}
# ''Night Shift'' (2022), {{ISBN|978-1-529-09877-8}}
#''Manner of Death'' (2023), {{ISBN|978-0-593-71389-1}}

==Movie and television adaptations==
* ''[[Coma (novel)|Coma]]'' (1977) has been adapted for both film and television:
** ''[[Coma (1978 film)|Coma]]'' (1978), a feature movie directed by author/doctor [[Michael Crichton]] and produced by Martin Erlichmann for [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]].
** ''[[Coma (US miniseries)|Coma]]'' (airdates September&nbsp;3–4, 2012) a four-hour [[A&E (TV channel)|A&E]] television [[mini-series]] based on the 1977 novel and subsequent 1978 movie, directed by [[Mikael Salomon]] and produced by brothers [[Ridley Scott|Ridley]] and [[Tony Scott]].
* ''[[Sphinx (novel)|Sphinx]]'' (1979) was adapted into the feature movie ''[[Sphinx (film)|Sphinx]]'' (1981), directed by [[Franklin J. Schaffner]], produced by [[Orion Pictures]] for [[Warner Bros.]], and featuring [[Lesley-Anne Down]] and [[Frank Langella]].
* ''[[Harmful Intent (novel)|Harmful Intent]]'' (1990) was adapted as the [[CBS]] television movie ''Robin Cook's Harmful Intent'' (broadcast January 1, 1993),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/tv/show/59691/Robin-Cook-s-Harmful-Intent/overview|website=The New York Times|title=Television Movie: Robin Cook's Harmful Intent}}</ref> directed by [[John Patterson (director)|John Patterson]] and produced by [[David A. Rosemont]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Harmful Intent|website=Moviefone|url=http://www.moviefone.com/movie/harmful-intent/1120317/main}}</ref>
* ''[[Mortal Fear (Cook novel)|Mortal Fear]]'' (1988) was as an eponymous TV movie, broadcast November 20, 1994, directed by [[Larry Shaw (director)|Larry Shaw]]<ref>{{cite web|website=moviefone|url=http://www.moviefone.com/search/mortal%20fear|title=Morta Fear|access-date=May 9, 2015}}</ref>
* ''[[Outbreak (novel)|Outbreak]]'' (1987) was adapted as the movie ''[[Virus (1995 film)|Virus (Formula For Death)]]'' (broadcast May 1995), directed by [[Armand Mastroianni]].
* ''[[Terminal (Cook novel)|Terminal]]'' (1993) was adapted as a TV movie, directed by [[Larry Elikann]].
* ''[[Invasion (Cook novel)|Invasion]]'' (1997) was adapted as an eponymous [[NBC]] TV mini-series (airdate May 4, 1997), directed by Armand Mastroianni.<ref name="wam">{{cite web|url=http://www.wam.umd.edu/~vmacker/robincook.htm|title=Robin Cook Info|access-date=2007-10-08|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050205000922/http://www.wam.umd.edu/~vmacker/robincook.htm|archive-date=February 5, 2005|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
* ''Acceptable Risk'' (2001).
* ''[[Foreign Body (Cook novel)|Foreign Body]]'' (2008) resulted in a 2008 prequel, produced as an [[Foreign Body (web series)|eponymous web series]] by the production companies [[Vuguru]] (owned by former [[The Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney]] CEO [[Michael Eisner]]), [[Cyber Group Studios]] (owned by the former Walt Disney executives Dominique Bourse and Pierre Sissmann), and [[Big Fantastic]] (owned by the creators of the web television series ''[[SamHas7Friends]]'' and ''[[Prom Queen (internet series)|Prom Queen]]'').  The series, which played from May 27 through August 4, 2008, comprised 50 episodes of approximately two minutes each, with a new video posted every weekday.<ref name="wam"/>

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Robin Cook (novelist)}}
*{{Official website|https://robincook.com/}}
*{{IMDb name|0177257}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071014043138/http://iblist.com/author429.htm Robin Cook on The Internet Book List]
*[https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/robin-cook/ Robin Cook at Fantastic Fiction]

{{Robin Cook (novelist)}}
{{Underwater diving|unddiv}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Robin}}
[[Category:1940 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American medical writers]]
[[Category:Aquanauts]]
[[Category:Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:Medical fiction writers]]
[[Category:Leonia High School alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Queens, New York]]
[[Category:Novelists from New York City]]
[[Category:United States Navy Medical Corps officers]]
[[Category:Wesleyan University alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Bergen County, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Writers from Leonia, New Jersey]]