Marker - Robin Cook

It's been several years since I read one of Cook's novels, predominantly because I was a little tired of the same themes which recurred through his work - large, heartless company considers the lives of (usually disenfranchised) individuals expendable in comparison with profit generation, only to be brought down by a diligent (often rogue) scientist or doctor who uncovers the deaths and tracks down the truth in the face of obstacles and personal danger. The organisation involved is usually a managed health provider, but is occasionally a chemical or other industrial manufacturer; the hero is often opposed by his (or her) own employer.
Marker was remaindered at one of my local booksellers, and though I try to avoid trade paperback-sized novels, I couldn't resist either the price or the guilty pleasure that Cook instills in me.
True to form, in Marker Cook has Dr Laurie Montgomery, a New York medical examiner, intrigued by a series of unexpected deaths. She posts two patients where the decedent was young, in excellent health, and died within twenty-four hours of minor elective surgery at University Hospital. Asking around the office she finds more cases that fit the profile. The patients seem to have nothing else in common - different wards, different theatre and ward staff, different medications. They also have no obvious cause of death on autopsy. But why would someone be killing them?
While working out what's going on, and trying to avoid conflict with her boss (who finds the conspiracy theory patently absurd and alarmist), Laurie also has to cope with a serious health problem within her dysfunctional family, and her recent breakup from partner, Dr Jack Stapleton (a fellow pathologist).
Jack's wife and two daughters died in a place accident some years earlier, and he's not prepared to face that kind of loss again. But Laurie's getting older, and she really wants to start a family. After months of frustration on both sides, Jack has moved out.
Jack's former career as an ophthalmologist was ruined by HMO giant AmeriCare - now the health care provider for the medical examiner's office, and for University Hospital. He doesn't trust AmeriCare, and his suspicions are heightened because some time earlier (I'm guessing in a previous novel) he uncovered a scheme to kill patients with chronic illnesses, because they would have cost the insurer a bundle before their deaths.
Yet that is clearly not the case here - all the patients were fit and well. As Laurie delves deeper she discovers more cases at another hospital - a cluster of six that spontaneously ended.
Interwoven with the story of Laurie and Jack's investigation is the story of float nurse Jasmine (Jazz) Rakoczi - ex-army and current killer for hire. We know that the deaths are deliberate (and, if we have any intelligence at all, know very early on why). Will Laurie and Jack find out before it's too late? Will they find a way to reunite? Will they stop Jazz, and unmask the corporate bean counters behind her actions? Will Laurie, who (of course) meets the criteria of the victims, survive an emergency hospital admission?
Yes, yes, yes and yes.
It is to Cook's credit that, predictable though this all is, the plot still carried me along. The writing is not particularly fresh, and there is a great deal too much exposition, but at least I didn't throw the book across the room in disgust. On the other hand, I think I can wait another few years before I read another variation on this well-worn theme. - Alex