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Mindbend
When a future doctor trusts his pregnant wife's care to the clinic operated by the giant chemical company where he works, he does not suspect that she will be subjected to terrifying experimentation. "Chillingly entertaining and thought-provoking".--Associated Press.
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
296 people are currently reading
1991 people want to read
About the author
Robin Cook
190 books5,057 followersLibrarian Note: Not to be confused with British novelist Robin Cook a pseudonym of Robert William Arthur Cook.
Dr. Robin Cook (born May 4, 1940 in New York City, New York) is an American doctor / novelist who writes about medicine, biotechnology, and topics affecting public health.
He is best known for being the author who created the medical-thriller genre by combining medical writing with the thriller genre of writing. His books have been bestsellers on the "New York Times" Bestseller List with several at #1. A number of his books have also been featured in Reader's Digest. Many were also featured in the Literary Guild. Many have been made into motion pictures.
Cook is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Columbia University School of Medicine. He finished his postgraduate medical training at Harvard that included general surgery and ophthalmology. He divides his time between homes in Florida, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts where he lives with his wife Jean. He is currently on leave from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He has successfully combined medical fact with fiction to produce a succession of bestselling books. Cook's medical thrillers are designed, in part, to make the public aware of both the technological possibilities of modern medicine and the ensuing ethical conundrums.
Cook got a taste of the larger world when the Cousteau Society recruited him to run its blood - gas lab in the South of France while he was in medical school. Intrigued by diving, he later called on a connection he made through Jacques Cousteau to become an aquanaut with the US Navy Sealab when he was drafted in the 60's. During his navy career he served on a nuclear submarine for a seventy-five day stay underwater where he wrote his first book! [1]
Cook was a private member of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Board of Trustees, appointed to a six-year term by the President George W. Bush.[2]
[edit] Doctor / Novelist
Dr. Cook's profession as a doctor has provided him with ideas and background for many of his novels. In each of his novels, he strives to write about the issues at the forefront of current medical practice.
To date, he has explored issues such as organ donation, genetic engineering,fertility treatment, medical research funding, managed care, medical malpractice, drug research, drug pricing, specialty hospitals, stem cells, and organ transplantation.[3]
Dr. Cook has been remarked to have an uncanny ability to anticipate national controversy. In an interview with Dr.Cook, Stephen McDonald talked to him about his novel Shock; Cook admits the timing of Shock was fortuitous. "I suppose that you could say that it's the most like Coma in that it deals with an issue that everybody seems to be concerned about," he says, "I wrote this book to address the stem cell issue, which the public really doesn't know much about. Besides entertaining readers, my main goal is to get people interested in some of these issues, because it's the public that ultimately really should decide which way we ought to go in something as that has enormous potential for treating disease and disability but touches up against the ethically problematic abortion issue."[4]
Keeping his lab coat handy helps him turn our fear of doctors into bestsellers. "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 being a doctor. 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." After 35 books,he has come up with a diagnosis to explain why his medical thrillers remain so popular. "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 n
Dr. Robin Cook (born May 4, 1940 in New York City, New York) is an American doctor / novelist who writes about medicine, biotechnology, and topics affecting public health.
He is best known for being the author who created the medical-thriller genre by combining medical writing with the thriller genre of writing. His books have been bestsellers on the "New York Times" Bestseller List with several at #1. A number of his books have also been featured in Reader's Digest. Many were also featured in the Literary Guild. Many have been made into motion pictures.
Cook is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Columbia University School of Medicine. He finished his postgraduate medical training at Harvard that included general surgery and ophthalmology. He divides his time between homes in Florida, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts where he lives with his wife Jean. He is currently on leave from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He has successfully combined medical fact with fiction to produce a succession of bestselling books. Cook's medical thrillers are designed, in part, to make the public aware of both the technological possibilities of modern medicine and the ensuing ethical conundrums.
Cook got a taste of the larger world when the Cousteau Society recruited him to run its blood - gas lab in the South of France while he was in medical school. Intrigued by diving, he later called on a connection he made through Jacques Cousteau to become an aquanaut with the US Navy Sealab when he was drafted in the 60's. During his navy career he served on a nuclear submarine for a seventy-five day stay underwater where he wrote his first book! [1]
Cook was a private member of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Board of Trustees, appointed to a six-year term by the President George W. Bush.[2]
[edit] Doctor / Novelist
Dr. Cook's profession as a doctor has provided him with ideas and background for many of his novels. In each of his novels, he strives to write about the issues at the forefront of current medical practice.
To date, he has explored issues such as organ donation, genetic engineering,fertility treatment, medical research funding, managed care, medical malpractice, drug research, drug pricing, specialty hospitals, stem cells, and organ transplantation.[3]
Dr. Cook has been remarked to have an uncanny ability to anticipate national controversy. In an interview with Dr.Cook, Stephen McDonald talked to him about his novel Shock; Cook admits the timing of Shock was fortuitous. "I suppose that you could say that it's the most like Coma in that it deals with an issue that everybody seems to be concerned about," he says, "I wrote this book to address the stem cell issue, which the public really doesn't know much about. Besides entertaining readers, my main goal is to get people interested in some of these issues, because it's the public that ultimately really should decide which way we ought to go in something as that has enormous potential for treating disease and disability but touches up against the ethically problematic abortion issue."[4]
Keeping his lab coat handy helps him turn our fear of doctors into bestsellers. "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 being a doctor. 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." After 35 books,he has come up with a diagnosis to explain why his medical thrillers remain so popular. "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 n
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 185 reviews
July 25, 2015
Enjoyable and suspenseful. Addresses the controversial topics of fetal tissue use and the business of healthcare becoming more important than patient care. Also, Cook uses one of his usual plot structures where the main character is finding out things are not as they seem and nobody believes him.
This one is better than the last couple Robin Cook books I read and I recommend it to fans of the medical thriller genre.
This one is better than the last couple Robin Cook books I read and I recommend it to fans of the medical thriller genre.
February 26, 2019
Mindbend is a medical thriller-mystery here and there with horror elements (for me...).
The ending is a little bit rushed but overall it's an exciting read.
The ending is a little bit rushed but overall it's an exciting read.
August 4, 2022
4 stars - English Ebook
Future doctor Adam Schonberg loved his wife. That was why he took a job with the giant drug firm Arolen, for the money he needed for their coming baby.
His wife, Jennifer, felt she would get the best of care at the Julian Clinic as her pregnancy progressed.
It seemed a happy coincidence that the Julian Clinic was owned by Arolen...until Adam Schonberg slowly began to suspect the terrifying truth about this connection, and about the hideous evil perpetrated on the wife he loved by the doctor she helplessly trusted.
Another fast paced book. Really enjoying all the books by Robin Cook.
You don't even have to have a medical degree to follow this book. That makes this a book for every one. Surely for those who love Medical Thrillers.
The writter is one of the best and is brilliant His writings excellent. I would recommend them to any one who likes this genre.
Future doctor Adam Schonberg loved his wife. That was why he took a job with the giant drug firm Arolen, for the money he needed for their coming baby.
His wife, Jennifer, felt she would get the best of care at the Julian Clinic as her pregnancy progressed.
It seemed a happy coincidence that the Julian Clinic was owned by Arolen...until Adam Schonberg slowly began to suspect the terrifying truth about this connection, and about the hideous evil perpetrated on the wife he loved by the doctor she helplessly trusted.
Another fast paced book. Really enjoying all the books by Robin Cook.
You don't even have to have a medical degree to follow this book. That makes this a book for every one. Surely for those who love Medical Thrillers.
The writter is one of the best and is brilliant His writings excellent. I would recommend them to any one who likes this genre.
June 5, 2011
Mindbend focused on some rather controversial issues, most prominently featured being abortion and stem cell research. Originally written in 1985, Mindbend was well ahead of its time, delving into hot button topics still fiercely debated today.
Adam is a medical student forced to drop out of school and take a job with Arolen, a pharmaceutical company, when his wife, Jennifer, becomes unexpectedly pregnant. Early in the book, Jennifer accompanies a friend getting an abortion and the friend dies while in the hospital. Jennifer knows she would never have an abortion, but she has a family history of severe birth defects and knows the choice may be out of her hands.
Adam becomes suspicious of Arelon's practices when certain doctors associated with the company begin to behave strangely. When Jennifer's OBGYN prescribed Arolen's ineffective and potentially dangerous morning sickness medication, Adam demands Jennifer not take the medication and find a new doctor. Their already strained relationship becomes hostile, but Adam is far more concerned with Arolen than with his marriage. He begins an investigation into the company that uncovers more than he could have ever imagined.
Mindbend is a highly thrilling novel that loses credibility occasionally. The science-fiction feel of the "shocking revelation" makes the book less believable and therefore less frightening. The book is fast paced and well written, but modern readers may have difficulty relating to Adam's thought processes, especially when it comes to interacting with his wife. Mindbend is a highly enjoyable, if imperfect, medical mystery.
Adam is a medical student forced to drop out of school and take a job with Arolen, a pharmaceutical company, when his wife, Jennifer, becomes unexpectedly pregnant. Early in the book, Jennifer accompanies a friend getting an abortion and the friend dies while in the hospital. Jennifer knows she would never have an abortion, but she has a family history of severe birth defects and knows the choice may be out of her hands.
Adam becomes suspicious of Arelon's practices when certain doctors associated with the company begin to behave strangely. When Jennifer's OBGYN prescribed Arolen's ineffective and potentially dangerous morning sickness medication, Adam demands Jennifer not take the medication and find a new doctor. Their already strained relationship becomes hostile, but Adam is far more concerned with Arolen than with his marriage. He begins an investigation into the company that uncovers more than he could have ever imagined.
Mindbend is a highly thrilling novel that loses credibility occasionally. The science-fiction feel of the "shocking revelation" makes the book less believable and therefore less frightening. The book is fast paced and well written, but modern readers may have difficulty relating to Adam's thought processes, especially when it comes to interacting with his wife. Mindbend is a highly enjoyable, if imperfect, medical mystery.
July 30, 2012
It's pretty amazing to me how a medical thriller written in 1985 can still seem so relevant today. Mindbend is a quick read, if you like Robin Cook you know what you're getting into.
My problem with this one? I felt like there wasn't enough ending there. Spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution!
Jumping straight to an epilogue seemed like a neat way around dealing with any of the aftermath of the things that had happened. It was nice to see Jennifer have her baby. But as a reader, I want to see the bad guys get their comeuppance, and that never happened here. We saw these people do so much, saw so many heinous things that they were responsible for, that I wanted to see them get their just desserts. And we must assume that they did--but that all happened off-screen and we were never told about any of the consequences.
Perhaps that is why Mindbend felt short to me when I picked it up. A proper ending would have brought it in closer to the length I expected.
My problem with this one? I felt like there wasn't enough ending there. Spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution!
Jumping straight to an epilogue seemed like a neat way around dealing with any of the aftermath of the things that had happened. It was nice to see Jennifer have her baby. But as a reader, I want to see the bad guys get their comeuppance, and that never happened here. We saw these people do so much, saw so many heinous things that they were responsible for, that I wanted to see them get their just desserts. And we must assume that they did--but that all happened off-screen and we were never told about any of the consequences.
Perhaps that is why Mindbend felt short to me when I picked it up. A proper ending would have brought it in closer to the length I expected.
September 20, 2021
Intenso e interessante como o autor já nos habituou. Sempre a acelerar. Contudo existem detalhes que cheiram a inverosímil, sobretudo no que diz respeito à fuga - mas ok. Aceito: o livro atinge o seu objectivo que é o de proporcionar entretimento sob a forma de literatura. Obrigado, Mr. Cook.
October 13, 2024
Zeer verouderd, voorspelbare plot, vlakke personages. Een wonder dat ik het heb uitgelezen. Een zonde van mijn tijd.
August 8, 2018
Este libro me mantuvo con el alma en un hilo todo el tiempo. Es emocionante y envolvente. Me parece sumamente interesante que las temáticas médicas de una novela escrita en 1985 sean tan actuales y se adapten tan fácilmente a la realidad médica de nuestros días.
En su trama, un joven estudiante de medicina debe dejar la carrera, porque debe empezar a generar ingresos económicos, ya que su esposa repentinamente, ha quedado embarazada.
Al Adam ingresar a una prestigiosa farmacéutica, allí descubre obscuros procedimientos en los que varios médicos, son sedados y bajo tales efectos, les realizan una operación en el cerebro, producto de la cual, sus acciones y actitudes son manipuladas y así logran engañar a mujeres embarazadas para que aborten a sus bebés y de esta forma, traficar los órganos y tejidos. Siendo así, Adam emprende una lucha contra el reloj, en donde debe buscar pruebas que confirmen todos los actos de corrupción médica que ha descubierto y con las que deberá convencer a su esposa de no someterse al aborto, en donde sin saberlo, acabaría con la vida de su bebé, quien viene en perfectas condiciones de salud.
Es increíble la capacidad que tiene Robin Cook de llevarte a altos niveles de tensión y suspenso. Una lectura rápida, envolvente y atractiva.
Sin embargo, no le doy las cinco estrellas, ya que el final fue cortado con un epílogo que eliminó lo que hubiese podido ser un final con más riqueza y fundamento. Existe la resolución, mas no ahonda en detalles de qué pasó con los malhechores o cómo pagaron el mal que causaron.
Sin embargo, me pareció excelente y lo disfruté muchísimo.
En su trama, un joven estudiante de medicina debe dejar la carrera, porque debe empezar a generar ingresos económicos, ya que su esposa repentinamente, ha quedado embarazada.
Al Adam ingresar a una prestigiosa farmacéutica, allí descubre obscuros procedimientos en los que varios médicos, son sedados y bajo tales efectos, les realizan una operación en el cerebro, producto de la cual, sus acciones y actitudes son manipuladas y así logran engañar a mujeres embarazadas para que aborten a sus bebés y de esta forma, traficar los órganos y tejidos. Siendo así, Adam emprende una lucha contra el reloj, en donde debe buscar pruebas que confirmen todos los actos de corrupción médica que ha descubierto y con las que deberá convencer a su esposa de no someterse al aborto, en donde sin saberlo, acabaría con la vida de su bebé, quien viene en perfectas condiciones de salud.
Es increíble la capacidad que tiene Robin Cook de llevarte a altos niveles de tensión y suspenso. Una lectura rápida, envolvente y atractiva.
Sin embargo, no le doy las cinco estrellas, ya que el final fue cortado con un epílogo que eliminó lo que hubiese podido ser un final con más riqueza y fundamento. Existe la resolución, mas no ahonda en detalles de qué pasó con los malhechores o cómo pagaron el mal que causaron.
Sin embargo, me pareció excelente y lo disfruté muchísimo.
August 7, 2013
Adam Schonberg is an aspiring young doctor who is forced to drop out of medical school and take a job with Arelon - a pharmaceutical company - when his wife Jennifer becomes pregnant unexpectedly. Adam's new job with Arelon is extremely lucrative, and the company itself is gigantic with aspirations of ultimately dominating the medical field. He becomes suspicious of the company's practices when some of its physician employees begin to act strangely.
Extremely worried about her pregnancy due to a family history of severe birth defects, Jennifer's gynecologist prescribes a morning sickness medication created by Arelon. The medication proves to be ineffective and potentially dangerous, and Adam demands that Jennifer stop taking it and change doctors. Their already strained relationship becomes hostile as Adam becomes increasingly more determined to discover Arelon's secrets; he begins an investigation into the company which reveals more than Adam could have ever even imagined.
I must say that I enjoyed this book much more than I expected I would. Generally, I like Robin Cook as an author and have probably read about six or seven of his books in the past. However, occasionally I do have a little trouble getting into some of the plots of Robin Cook's books. I had no such trouble with Mindbend and I give this book an A+!
Extremely worried about her pregnancy due to a family history of severe birth defects, Jennifer's gynecologist prescribes a morning sickness medication created by Arelon. The medication proves to be ineffective and potentially dangerous, and Adam demands that Jennifer stop taking it and change doctors. Their already strained relationship becomes hostile as Adam becomes increasingly more determined to discover Arelon's secrets; he begins an investigation into the company which reveals more than Adam could have ever even imagined.
I must say that I enjoyed this book much more than I expected I would. Generally, I like Robin Cook as an author and have probably read about six or seven of his books in the past. However, occasionally I do have a little trouble getting into some of the plots of Robin Cook's books. I had no such trouble with Mindbend and I give this book an A+!
August 24, 2019
Es una novela que te atrapa, sin embargo le falta mucho al suspenso, como que la narrativa es algo floja en el sentido de emoción salvo la parte final que si hay un poco mas de adrenalina. La narración es fácil de leer por lo que historia es fluida. En los personajes el principal esta muy bien construido se nota la desesperación de su situación y su personalidad un tanto orgulloso y machista que describe el pensamiento e ideas de la época en la cual esta siendo relatada ( 80´s) sin embargo en los secundarios carecen de esta construcción solo hacen su aparición y ya, por lo que a veces se nos olvida quien era cada personaje. También debo recalcar que la esposa de nuestro personaje toma las decisiones mas estúpidas que meten al personaje principal en un dilema al igual este en ocasiones toma el camino mas difícil o se complica la vida con sus actos. De acuerdo con el contenido de la novela es interesante los puntos que toma:
.La idea de los 80´s en cuestión de los abortos (la novela esta un poco inclinada o da la idea de estar en contra del aborto)
. La mafia que rodea a la medicina y las practicas de tratamientos que pueden llegar a ir en contra de lo ético y moral
. Una representación de como las empresas quieren que sean sus empleados, en función de ser controlados.
.La idea de los 80´s en cuestión de los abortos (la novela esta un poco inclinada o da la idea de estar en contra del aborto)
. La mafia que rodea a la medicina y las practicas de tratamientos que pueden llegar a ir en contra de lo ético y moral
. Una representación de como las empresas quieren que sean sus empleados, en función de ser controlados.
October 13, 2018
Scary look into what could happen when medicine becomes driven by business concerns.
January 18, 2025
Perspective:
I graduated high school in 1984 in the heart of Silicon Valley, San Jose, California. My bank had its very first ATM in 1984. This book was published in January, 1986. I survived COVID in June, 2021. I read & am reviewing this book in January, 2025. To say this book is extremely realistic & "current" is a serious understatement.
Robin Cook has now become one of my top 10 authors. This medical thriller is "fiction" in 1986. I believe otherwise in 2025! I read this book in 7 straight hours, a fast-paced page turner. WOW! The author speaks from medical experience, old school. However, there is cautionary wisdom in old school. Biomedicine is common in 2025. I ask, where is the caution? What say you?
THANKS, mom, for this book recommendation.
I graduated high school in 1984 in the heart of Silicon Valley, San Jose, California. My bank had its very first ATM in 1984. This book was published in January, 1986. I survived COVID in June, 2021. I read & am reviewing this book in January, 2025. To say this book is extremely realistic & "current" is a serious understatement.
Robin Cook has now become one of my top 10 authors. This medical thriller is "fiction" in 1986. I believe otherwise in 2025! I read this book in 7 straight hours, a fast-paced page turner. WOW! The author speaks from medical experience, old school. However, there is cautionary wisdom in old school. Biomedicine is common in 2025. I ask, where is the caution? What say you?
THANKS, mom, for this book recommendation.
July 19, 2019
Δεν μου άρεσε! Στα ελληνικά ο τίτλος του βιβλίου είναι "Γυναικολογικό εργαστήριο" των εκδόσεων Media/1989. Η υπόθεση ίσως να είχε κάποιο ενδιαφέρον αλλά υπήρχε ένα επαναλαμβανόμενο μοτίβο χωρίς να το πηγαίνει πουθενά. Σαν να είχε μια ενδιαφέρον ιδέα αλλά να μη κατάφερε να ολοκληρώσει. Είχε πολλά κενά. Οι χαρακτήρες και οι διάλογοι απαράδεκτοι, επιφανειακοί και μη ρεαλιστικοί.
May 13, 2025
the last 30 odd pages stretched this thoroughly enjoyable book.
The story speaks about how a company tried to influence doctors through bending methods and how that leads a young woman towards an abortion and how her husband, our hero rises like a knight in shining armour comes to the rescue of his wife and unborn child.
The story speaks about how a company tried to influence doctors through bending methods and how that leads a young woman towards an abortion and how her husband, our hero rises like a knight in shining armour comes to the rescue of his wife and unborn child.
June 27, 2025
Some minor character critics aside, this was a fun, fast-paced thriller.
March 11, 2025
Robin Cook is an incredible author. He definitely can create a fear of the medical field. Highly recommend this book
June 16, 2025
⭐⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review: Mindbend by Robin Cook
They thought medical school was stressful. Try surviving mind control, corporate cults, and disappearing doctors.
The Plot (Spoilers Ahead):
Dr. Adam Schonberg is a third-year med student struggling to support his pregnant wife when his future is derailed—he’s forced to leave med school due to financial pressure and takes a job as a pharmaceutical sales rep for Arolen, the most powerful (and suspiciously omnipresent) pharma company in the U.S.
At first, it seems like a decent gig. Good pay, travel perks, and plenty of high-pressure sales calls to push psychotropic drugs on reluctant doctors. But soon Adam starts noticing some disturbing things:
Physicians attending "conferences" at the Arolen-sponsored Julian Clinic come back… different.
His old med school mentor goes to Julian and suddenly becomes robotic, distant, even sinister.
Some doctors vanish entirely.
Others change specialties and practices overnight, like they’ve had a complete identity reboot.
Adam starts digging and discovers the Julian Clinic isn’t a spa retreat—
The Medical Issue Examined:
Cook taps into a sci-fi-adjacent medical nightmare: pharmaceutical mind control via corporate healthcare infrastructure.
He explores:
The influence of Big Pharma on medical decisions
Mind-altering drugs and brain surgery for behavior modification
Medical ethics under capitalism
How vulnerable doctors can be to coercion in systems that hold all the financial power
The terrifying plausibility of pharmaceutical monopolies operating unchecked
While the science dips into the speculative, it’s close enough to feel plausible—and deeply unsettling.
Characters:
Adam Schonberg – Classic Cook protagonist: good guy in over his head. Idealistic and relatable, his mix of desperation and curiosity makes him a perfect POV character for this kind of conspiracy.
Jennifer Schonberg – Adam’s pregnant wife, whose health and safety become emotional stakes. She’s supportive, but doesn’t have much agency beyond being a reason for Adam to act.
George Morris – Adam’s old professor and one of the first Julian Clinic "converts." He’s the canary in the mind-control coalmine and the example of how chillingly effective the reprogramming is.
The Julian Clinic Doctors – Unsettling Stepford versions of their former selves. If you like robotic dinner party guests with dead eyes and chirpy dialogue, these guys are pure nightmare fuel.
Writing Style:
Cook leans hard into suspense here with pacing that accelerates like a panic attack. The prose is accessible and cinematic, with just enough medical detail to ground the science fiction in reality. Mindbend trades his usual procedural tone for something more psychological and dystopian—it’s less about diagnosis, more about control.
Some of the villain motivations veer a little Bond-villain-esque (a pharma cult with surgical mind control??), but Cook treats it with a straight face, making it scarier for how earnest it feels.
Final Word:
Mindbend is one of Cook’s creepiest and most uncomfortably plausible books. It taps into our worst fears about the healthcare industry: that the people prescribing our meds might not be doing it for our benefit—but because someone rewired their brain to.
It’s got elements of body horror, corporate satire, and medical thriller all bundled in one fast-paced read. If you like your Robin Cook with a side of paranoia and sci-fi weirdness, this one will get under your skin.
Read if you like:
Dystopian thrillers where Big Pharma is the villain
Conspiracies involving brainwashing, medical cults, and pharma reps in suits
Feeling unnerved every time your doctor recommends a new drug
They thought medical school was stressful. Try surviving mind control, corporate cults, and disappearing doctors.
The Plot (Spoilers Ahead):
Dr. Adam Schonberg is a third-year med student struggling to support his pregnant wife when his future is derailed—he’s forced to leave med school due to financial pressure and takes a job as a pharmaceutical sales rep for Arolen, the most powerful (and suspiciously omnipresent) pharma company in the U.S.
At first, it seems like a decent gig. Good pay, travel perks, and plenty of high-pressure sales calls to push psychotropic drugs on reluctant doctors. But soon Adam starts noticing some disturbing things:
Physicians attending "conferences" at the Arolen-sponsored Julian Clinic come back… different.
His old med school mentor goes to Julian and suddenly becomes robotic, distant, even sinister.
Some doctors vanish entirely.
Others change specialties and practices overnight, like they’ve had a complete identity reboot.
Adam starts digging and discovers the Julian Clinic isn’t a spa retreat—
The Medical Issue Examined:
Cook taps into a sci-fi-adjacent medical nightmare: pharmaceutical mind control via corporate healthcare infrastructure.
He explores:
The influence of Big Pharma on medical decisions
Mind-altering drugs and brain surgery for behavior modification
Medical ethics under capitalism
How vulnerable doctors can be to coercion in systems that hold all the financial power
The terrifying plausibility of pharmaceutical monopolies operating unchecked
While the science dips into the speculative, it’s close enough to feel plausible—and deeply unsettling.
Characters:
Adam Schonberg – Classic Cook protagonist: good guy in over his head. Idealistic and relatable, his mix of desperation and curiosity makes him a perfect POV character for this kind of conspiracy.
Jennifer Schonberg – Adam’s pregnant wife, whose health and safety become emotional stakes. She’s supportive, but doesn’t have much agency beyond being a reason for Adam to act.
George Morris – Adam’s old professor and one of the first Julian Clinic "converts." He’s the canary in the mind-control coalmine and the example of how chillingly effective the reprogramming is.
The Julian Clinic Doctors – Unsettling Stepford versions of their former selves. If you like robotic dinner party guests with dead eyes and chirpy dialogue, these guys are pure nightmare fuel.
Writing Style:
Cook leans hard into suspense here with pacing that accelerates like a panic attack. The prose is accessible and cinematic, with just enough medical detail to ground the science fiction in reality. Mindbend trades his usual procedural tone for something more psychological and dystopian—it’s less about diagnosis, more about control.
Some of the villain motivations veer a little Bond-villain-esque (a pharma cult with surgical mind control??), but Cook treats it with a straight face, making it scarier for how earnest it feels.
Final Word:
Mindbend is one of Cook’s creepiest and most uncomfortably plausible books. It taps into our worst fears about the healthcare industry: that the people prescribing our meds might not be doing it for our benefit—but because someone rewired their brain to.
It’s got elements of body horror, corporate satire, and medical thriller all bundled in one fast-paced read. If you like your Robin Cook with a side of paranoia and sci-fi weirdness, this one will get under your skin.
Read if you like:
Dystopian thrillers where Big Pharma is the villain
Conspiracies involving brainwashing, medical cults, and pharma reps in suits
Feeling unnerved every time your doctor recommends a new drug
January 14, 2011
I didn't like this medical thriller as much as I have liked Cook's other books. Adam Schonberg is a third-year medical student when his wife Jennifer becomes pregnant. Adam finds the loss of her income and the cost of an infant to be overwhelming; so he makes the decision to drop out of medical school and work as a salesman for a very powerful drug company Arolen Pharmaceuticals. Just how powerful its control over the medical field is, Adam is about to find out. When his own wife's pregnancy becomes threatened, Adam fights to save his family from evil even when threatened with violence himself. Very futuristic--not my usual genre. Most of the other Cook books I've read have a more contemporary setting. From the title I think you get the picture this one is about mind control. Though, like Cook's other books, there is a warning here about the control drug companies have over the medical field--just not to the extent of Arolen. It's scary to think the drug companies can present doctors with only the facts about their drugs that they want them to see; doctors need to do their homework.
April 12, 2014
I hadn't read a Robin Cook book for decades, but saw one on the endcap at the library so grabbed it on a whim. That was a mistake. It seemed like it was written by one of the many drugged characters in the story itself. With a monosyllabic text, one-dimensional characters, slow pace, and most predictable story line ever, I actually stopped 2/3 of the way through, drove to library, and hurled twice -- once was the book at the librarian and the second time was over the rail on a cruise to nowhere.
June 30, 2014
3.5 stars
I like Robin Cook's writing but this wasn't one of my favorites. The ending isn't as complete as I'd hoped for. That being said, it doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. It touched on several controversial topics in the medical field (and they are still controversial today-almost 30 years later!) and that makes for good reading. Stem cell research, abortion, big business interference in medical profession-it's all there. It's freaky scary what might be possible with power in the wrong hands!!
I like Robin Cook's writing but this wasn't one of my favorites. The ending isn't as complete as I'd hoped for. That being said, it doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. It touched on several controversial topics in the medical field (and they are still controversial today-almost 30 years later!) and that makes for good reading. Stem cell research, abortion, big business interference in medical profession-it's all there. It's freaky scary what might be possible with power in the wrong hands!!
September 30, 2017
Another amazing read by Robin Cook
Mr. Cooks reads are too close to reality for comfort. His stories are can't put down, read all night, scary, true life revelations of what is going on in the medical world today. Scary good book that makes you think deeply about what could be happening with pharmaceutical companies & medical practices.
Mr. Cooks reads are too close to reality for comfort. His stories are can't put down, read all night, scary, true life revelations of what is going on in the medical world today. Scary good book that makes you think deeply about what could be happening with pharmaceutical companies & medical practices.
February 4, 2010
A 'simple' medical thriller. I was, at one time, hooked. Then I bought nearly all books by Cook and read one after the other. And then, the more I read, the more predictable they got. To speak in modern terms, a kind of chicklit for the medical thriller genre.
January 10, 2015
Ignoring the drawbacks of the 'old times' in which the novel was written, it still didn't strike me much. Cook could have explained some parts better and the end was quite predictable. More story lines could have been included.
February 29, 2016
A good read
February 5, 2017
Muy recomendable, te atrapa desde la primera hasta la última página. Una trama de auténtico suspense cargada de una buena dósis de tensión. Una vez más, Cook no defrauda.
July 23, 2025
You’d think a novel about brainwashed doctors and corporate medical puppetry would be hard to mess up. Apparently not. Mindbend takes a premise dripping with potential and then proceeds to stumble over it, drop it, and cart it off to narrative malpractice. It’s rather like watching someone misdiagnose a textbook case in real time, with no sense of irony.
There’s a kind of dread unique to medicine; not blood or gore, but quiet control. A gentle nudge that turns practice into obedience. Mindbend wants to live in that space, and for a brief moment, it almost does. When Cook keeps to the hospital, clinical procedures, institutional chill, the sterile unease of systems gone wrong, his writing holds up. You sense the wrongness behind every door, and you want to follow it deeper.
And that’s the thing. I wanted this to work. The premise, an aspiring doctor slowly drawn into pharmaceutical sales, corporate loyalty replacing personal ethics, is deeply plausible. Add to that a faintly sci-fi concept of behavioural conditioning via drugs and electrical stimuli, and you've the makings of something genuinely disturbing. That’s precisely why it’s so maddening when it goes off the rails. Cook had all the pieces neatly laid out, and still managed to botch the assembly.
Adam, our protagonist, is spectacularly unaware. As a reader, you've pieced together the core mystery a good hundred pages before he starts furrowing his brow. Delayed character awareness can be effective in the right hands; it isolates, it unsettles, but here it merely tries one’s patience. It’s like wading through treacle while the lead blunders through plot points like a man late for a bus.
The cruise ship section had real promise: closed environment, suspect crew, no clear exit. But Adam approaches it with all the finesse of someone wading through a conspiracy half-asleep. His clumsy alliance with a crew member and eventual escape might work on screen, but here, on the page, it lands with all the impact of a wet plimsole.
Then there’s Puerto Rico. Or rather, the point where the book stops pretending to be a novel and starts behaving like a second-rate thriller script. The tonal shift is jarring, the logic increasingly brittle. Adam just happens to run into both Percy and Alan again, despite their only prior contact being brief, and entirely incidental. Once is a plot device. Twice is insulting.
The ending is an odd blend of breathless and hollow. The final escape sequence stretches far too long without ever quite earning its tension, and the abrupt timeskip that follows is frankly disappointing. The entire corporate conspiracy, arguably the point of the book, is dropped with barely a word. We’re handed a childbirth scene instead, which might matter thematically, but feels emotionally unearned. One line about Arolen’s fate would have sufficed. Instead, the novel simply shrugs and closes shop.
To give credit where it’s due, Cook remains unmatched in rendering the sterile anxiety of medical spaces. His grasp of clinical atmosphere and procedural detail is first-rate. But that alone doesn’t carry a story. A novel is not an operating theatre. You can’t simply lay out clean tools and expect it to pulse with life.
For a story ostensibly about control, Mindbend has very little of it. I won’t be recommending this one. A fine concept, thoroughly squandered.
There’s a kind of dread unique to medicine; not blood or gore, but quiet control. A gentle nudge that turns practice into obedience. Mindbend wants to live in that space, and for a brief moment, it almost does. When Cook keeps to the hospital, clinical procedures, institutional chill, the sterile unease of systems gone wrong, his writing holds up. You sense the wrongness behind every door, and you want to follow it deeper.
And that’s the thing. I wanted this to work. The premise, an aspiring doctor slowly drawn into pharmaceutical sales, corporate loyalty replacing personal ethics, is deeply plausible. Add to that a faintly sci-fi concept of behavioural conditioning via drugs and electrical stimuli, and you've the makings of something genuinely disturbing. That’s precisely why it’s so maddening when it goes off the rails. Cook had all the pieces neatly laid out, and still managed to botch the assembly.
Adam, our protagonist, is spectacularly unaware. As a reader, you've pieced together the core mystery a good hundred pages before he starts furrowing his brow. Delayed character awareness can be effective in the right hands; it isolates, it unsettles, but here it merely tries one’s patience. It’s like wading through treacle while the lead blunders through plot points like a man late for a bus.
The cruise ship section had real promise: closed environment, suspect crew, no clear exit. But Adam approaches it with all the finesse of someone wading through a conspiracy half-asleep. His clumsy alliance with a crew member and eventual escape might work on screen, but here, on the page, it lands with all the impact of a wet plimsole.
Then there’s Puerto Rico. Or rather, the point where the book stops pretending to be a novel and starts behaving like a second-rate thriller script. The tonal shift is jarring, the logic increasingly brittle. Adam just happens to run into both Percy and Alan again, despite their only prior contact being brief, and entirely incidental. Once is a plot device. Twice is insulting.
The ending is an odd blend of breathless and hollow. The final escape sequence stretches far too long without ever quite earning its tension, and the abrupt timeskip that follows is frankly disappointing. The entire corporate conspiracy, arguably the point of the book, is dropped with barely a word. We’re handed a childbirth scene instead, which might matter thematically, but feels emotionally unearned. One line about Arolen’s fate would have sufficed. Instead, the novel simply shrugs and closes shop.
To give credit where it’s due, Cook remains unmatched in rendering the sterile anxiety of medical spaces. His grasp of clinical atmosphere and procedural detail is first-rate. But that alone doesn’t carry a story. A novel is not an operating theatre. You can’t simply lay out clean tools and expect it to pulse with life.
For a story ostensibly about control, Mindbend has very little of it. I won’t be recommending this one. A fine concept, thoroughly squandered.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 6, 2024
Mi nota es
6/10
Como lector habitual de thrillers médicos, esperaba mucho de La manipulación de las mentes , dado que Robin Cook ha sido uno de los autores que mejor maneja la combinación de ciencia, medicina y suspense. Sin embargo, en esta ocasión, el libro me dejó algo insatisfecho, y aunque tiene sus momentos interesantes, no logró engancharme como otras obras suyas.
El argumento gira en torno a la investigación de la manipulación mental mediante tecnología médica, un tema que, en principio, suena interesante. Robin Cook explora las implicaciones éticas de controlar las mentes humanas, algo que se siente relevante y aterrador. Sin embargo, a medida que la trama avanza, la historia comienza a volverse predecible y carece del dinamismo que caracteriza a sus mejores libros.
El protagonista es competente, pero no logra destacarse. En comparación con personajes icónicos de otros thrillers médicos de Robin Cook .
Por otro lado, uno de los aspectos positivos de la obra es el dominio que Robin Cook tiene sobre los avances médicos y la tecnología. La ciencia detrás del control mental está bien explicada y resulta creíble, lo que añade una capa de autenticidad a la historia. Además, las descripciones de los procedimientos y del sistema hospitalario siguen siendo una de las fortalezas del autor.
A pesar de esto, me pareció que la narrativa perdía ritmo hacia la mitad del libro, y me costó mantener el interés. Algunas escenas eran demasiado largas y reiterativas, mientras que el desenlace no fue lo suficientemente impactante para compensar el lento desarrollo. Hubo varias oportunidades para aumentar la tensión o para dar giros inesperados que no se aprovecharon.
En resumen, La manipulación de las mentes ofrece una premisa intrigante y algunos momentos interesantes, pero se queda corto en comparación con otras obras de Robin Cook . No es un mal libro, pero tampoco está a la altura de lo que sé que Robin Cook puede ofrecer. Recomendable para quienes disfrutan del thriller médico, aunque con expectativas moderadas.
Como lector habitual de thrillers médicos, esperaba mucho de La manipulación de las mentes , dado que Robin Cook ha sido uno de los autores que mejor maneja la combinación de ciencia, medicina y suspense. Sin embargo, en esta ocasión, el libro me dejó algo insatisfecho, y aunque tiene sus momentos interesantes, no logró engancharme como otras obras suyas.
El argumento gira en torno a la investigación de la manipulación mental mediante tecnología médica, un tema que, en principio, suena interesante. Robin Cook explora las implicaciones éticas de controlar las mentes humanas, algo que se siente relevante y aterrador. Sin embargo, a medida que la trama avanza, la historia comienza a volverse predecible y carece del dinamismo que caracteriza a sus mejores libros.
El protagonista es competente, pero no logra destacarse. En comparación con personajes icónicos de otros thrillers médicos de Robin Cook .
Por otro lado, uno de los aspectos positivos de la obra es el dominio que Robin Cook tiene sobre los avances médicos y la tecnología. La ciencia detrás del control mental está bien explicada y resulta creíble, lo que añade una capa de autenticidad a la historia. Además, las descripciones de los procedimientos y del sistema hospitalario siguen siendo una de las fortalezas del autor.
A pesar de esto, me pareció que la narrativa perdía ritmo hacia la mitad del libro, y me costó mantener el interés. Algunas escenas eran demasiado largas y reiterativas, mientras que el desenlace no fue lo suficientemente impactante para compensar el lento desarrollo. Hubo varias oportunidades para aumentar la tensión o para dar giros inesperados que no se aprovecharon.
En resumen, La manipulación de las mentes ofrece una premisa intrigante y algunos momentos interesantes, pero se queda corto en comparación con otras obras de Robin Cook . No es un mal libro, pero tampoco está a la altura de lo que sé que Robin Cook puede ofrecer. Recomendable para quienes disfrutan del thriller médico, aunque con expectativas moderadas.
August 9, 2020
I usually prefer female authors and forgotten how much I loved Robin Cook. In my teens and early twenties, he was my 2nd favorite author, right after Stephen King. I love the horror of his medical thrillers and was happy to see the Popsugar Reading Challenge had included a prompt for a medical thriller. My only question was which Robin Cook book was I going to read? This one didn't let me down.
It hooked me from the very beginning, and kept me engrossed the whole way through. I got involved with the characters and cared for them. I found his female characters believable. Early on in the book, the main character complains about his in-laws interfering in their lives. I thought he was being ridiculous, but agreed by the end of the book. This book is about the struggle between patient care and big business. It's about a young med student whose wife gets pregnant. The decisions he has to make lead him to discover and solve a mystery involving a drug company, an ob/gyn clinic, and experiments using fetal tissue.
As usual, when reading a book set in the 80's you get funny reminders of how things have changed. This book reminded of the differences in airport security, life before cell phones, before computers were ubiquitous, and using dial-up modems. But, the story still felt current - long waits in some doctors offices, searching for a doctor who cares, for a doctor you trust, and how you in group practices - you can't always see the same doctor. I personally prefer to see a nurse practitioner or a physician's assistant. I highly recommend this book.
#amedicalthriller
It hooked me from the very beginning, and kept me engrossed the whole way through. I got involved with the characters and cared for them. I found his female characters believable. Early on in the book, the main character complains about his in-laws interfering in their lives. I thought he was being ridiculous, but agreed by the end of the book. This book is about the struggle between patient care and big business. It's about a young med student whose wife gets pregnant. The decisions he has to make lead him to discover and solve a mystery involving a drug company, an ob/gyn clinic, and experiments using fetal tissue.
As usual, when reading a book set in the 80's you get funny reminders of how things have changed. This book reminded of the differences in airport security, life before cell phones, before computers were ubiquitous, and using dial-up modems. But, the story still felt current - long waits in some doctors offices, searching for a doctor who cares, for a doctor you trust, and how you in group practices - you can't always see the same doctor. I personally prefer to see a nurse practitioner or a physician's assistant. I highly recommend this book.
#amedicalthriller
February 15, 2021
Thriller médical par l'auteur Robin Cook que je découvre. L'histoire m'a beaucoup fait pensé à The Firm écrit par John Grisham, mais cette fois-ci dans le monde hospitalier.
Petit bémol pour la résolution de l'histoire que l'on ne voit meme pas. Le personnage passe de la découverte, à une simple discussion avec son père... et à un énorme pas en avant quelques mois après. Dommage! C'est comme si l'auteur avait crée une histoire tellement compliquée qu'il ne savait pas lui-meme comment en ressortir, donc on fait simple: Un saut dans le temps et tout est réglé.
Le sujet en lui meme ne m'a pas énormément emballé non plus, je ne dois pas etre le bon public. En effet, un thriller autour des grossesses, des avortements et du traitement du corps de la femme dans le monde hospitalier ne m'a franchement pas rassurée.
Petit bémol pour la résolution de l'histoire que l'on ne voit meme pas. Le personnage passe de la découverte, à une simple discussion avec son père... et à un énorme pas en avant quelques mois après. Dommage! C'est comme si l'auteur avait crée une histoire tellement compliquée qu'il ne savait pas lui-meme comment en ressortir, donc on fait simple: Un saut dans le temps et tout est réglé.
Le sujet en lui meme ne m'a pas énormément emballé non plus, je ne dois pas etre le bon public. En effet, un thriller autour des grossesses, des avortements et du traitement du corps de la femme dans le monde hospitalier ne m'a franchement pas rassurée.
August 15, 2021
A compelling story with believable motivations for the various characters. Certain parts of the story got me frustrated as a lot of the conflict could have been resolved if the characters just listened to one another. However, then they wouldn’t have been much of a story. I was taken aback at how often people just suggested that Jennifer “have an abortion”, as if it were something so simple like changing a hairstyle, rather than the difficult, heart-wrenching decision that it is. It left me a little incredulous. I also thought the story wrapped up a little too quickly. While the epilogue adequately summed up the family side of the story, we know nothing of what happened to the doctors, the clinic, or the pharmaceutical company. Generally I found it to be a good story and an enjoyable read.
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