A Case of Need – Jeffrey Hudson – Book Review

For every book lover, it is a commonly known fact that, however grand a movie may be; it will never match the book adaptation of the same. For me, the first such book; that I read which was adapted as a movie was ‘Jurassic Park’. The movie was a wonder for me. The first time I was able to see what was called a dinosaur. But then I stumbled upon the book of the same. And for me, it was more beautiful than the movie ever was. I was able to visualize what was written down in the book on screen, but never could a two-hour-long movie contains all the wonders of a book. The author of that book impressed me a lot – Michael Crichton. Now, coming back to this book; Jeffery Hudson is the pseudonym for Michael Crichton and this is his very first published work that went on to receive his first-ever award.

                The book is a medical thriller set in Boston. It revolves around a pathologist, John Berry whose friend gets arrested for a case of death during a botched abortion. This was set up at a time when abortion was still taboo and was considered a sin and crime. The pathologist sets out to find the truth behind the incident and at the same time brushes up against one of the biggest families in the area of which the dead girl was a part. Was this a murder or was this a medical procedure gone wrong forms the crux of the story and at the same time dives into the ethical part of abortions which was very much considered a crime at the period.

                Michael Crichton was a medical student at the time the book was written; so the pseudonym; as it was touching upon the sensitive topic of abortion. He had made good use of his medical knowledge as strength to the book. There is quite a lot of medical jargon used but there are meanings mentioned for many of them in the pages itself. This might hamper the speed of reading. The read was pacy in its own respect, but, trying to find out the meaning of the words and medical procedures halted me in many places. This was a total shift from the other books by the author. Behind scenes of hospitals were written very well. There was adequate information on the city of Boston and the suburban and underground cultural lifestyle of the time. The end and the suspense were quite intriguing in its own way. But the read did tire me out at places.

                I had known Robin Cook to churn out medical thrillers. Michael Crichton; being a medical personnel himself has done a pretty decent job with the book. And that too at a young age when he was still in the medical school. Medical thrillers can tend to be quite different from normal crime thrillers with the setting and the mode of investigation. I would recommend this to those who like medical thrillers which are racy but then it might pause you at junctures.