From Robin Cook, the ‘master of the medical thriller’ (The New York Times), fan favourites Jack and Laurie return in another fast-paced story about a deadly bioweapon that could disrupt the world order as they know it.

When Laurie Montgomery steps down from her position as chief medical examiner at the OCME, she and Jack decide to embark on a weekend getaway. And the timing couldn't be better when they receive a call from Jack’s old peer about a strange death and their potential association with an alarming upswing in Alzheimer’s cases in Essex Falls.

Agreeing to help, Laurie and Jack head upstate to find that Essex Falls is far from the rural idyll of their imagination. The residents appear earnestly intent on returning America to the 1950s. They are told of the deaths of two local troublemakers, who prior to their deaths had both begun to complain of muscle spasms, nausea and off-the-charts anxiety.

As Jack and Laurie investigate, they uncover a terrifying possibility: a dangerous bioweapon. In the wrong hands, it could threaten the lives of the entire town . . . and potentially all of America.

Forensic pathologists and doctors-turned-detectives do battle against epidemics, lethal illness and drug-related deaths, the causes of which are far from natural . . . You’ll find yourself completely hooked * Daily Mail *
Likeable heroes, a compelling medical mystery and growing suspense – the result is a highly entertaining read. Commercial fiction, at its best, is pure entertainment. But Cook, like Michael Crichton, offers readers a smart dissection of contemporary issues that affect us all * USA Today *
Praise for Manner of Death: Readers are in competent hands . . . As he has done in all of his novels, Cook once again rings a warning bell to raise awareness for a new area at risk for potential abuse * New York Journal of Books *
Robin Cook virtually invented the medical thriller in the 1970s with Coma * Guardian *

Doctor and author Robin Cook is widely credited with introducing the word ‘medical’ to the thriller genre, and decades after the publication of his 1977 breakthrough novel, Coma, he continues to dominate the category he created. Cook has successfully combined medical fact with fiction to produce over thirty international bestsellers, including Outbreak, Terminal, Contagion, Chromosome 6, Foreign Body, Intervention and Cure.