A letter to Robin Cook

Dear Robin Cook,

    I am writing to extend my gratitude for incorporating medicine in your writings. I am someone who’s interested in both neuroscience as well as literature. So your approach of bringing neurology into fictional work was such a blessing. You’ve mentioned your work as an art of faction and I can genuinely perceive it as one, the combination of both fact and fiction. I started with Coma and recently finished Seizure which I would like to mention as one of my favourites. The interesting plot as well as the factual things along with a tinge of history made it stupendous. 

    The title Seizure caught my attention as I have someone close to me suffering from seizure and I always utilise the chance I get to know more about it. The plot begins with some religious beliefs and the mention of ‘The Shroud of Turin’ impressed me. I like these kinds of conspiracies and it can get a whole piece of me. Not to mention the language you used in it. ‘I assume from your syntax she has gone to her Maker.’ This is one of my most loved quotes from the novel. It can console a grieving someone for their loss. Also Mr Butler’s fear of his disease being public and Dr Lowell’s ambition for developing the biotechnology is clearly evident. Though they started off with a clash, I was almost relieved to know that Mr. Butler needed Dr. Lowell to treat his Parkinson’s disease, the latter being a competitive doctor with innovative ideas. I also liked the character of Stephanie, on how she was considerate of both characters. Somewhere between, I also noticed how she lost all hope and wanted to stop everything right there. The process of collecting stem cells in Saunders’ and Spencer’s lab, just by impregnating some women and later aborting the child seems as terrific as the holocaust. It brought out the feeling of humans being treated just as guinea pigs.

You clearly portrayed Dr Lowell’s desire to bring HTSR (Homologous Transgenic Segmental Recombination) into the field of medicine and why the world needs it. I know that it’s not yet practiced in humans and as far as I want the medical team to develop this strategy and succeed in it, I also don’t want it to cost innumerable lives. Another thing I like about this work is that you revealed both the pros and cons of this technique if applied to a human body. But I still feel heavy in the heart as both Lowell and Butler couldn’t succeed in their endeavour.

Thank you for your work and time! Wishing to see more of your works!

With love,

Greshin Gregorious