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閱讀羅賓·科剋 Robin Cook在小说之家的作品!!! |
《緊急傳染》這部小說講的是1996年3月的幾天時間裏發生的事。美國的“大蘋果”紐約市接二連三出現罕見的惡性傳染病，先是鼠疫，接着是兔熱病、落基山斑疹熱和肺炎，等等，無辜患者和醫務人員接連死亡。神秘的絶癥嚴重威脅着這座世界大都市廣大市民的生命安全。傳媒轟動，醫院遮掩搪塞，專傢衆說紛紜。醫學檢查官傑剋感覺在這一係列惡性傳染的背後疑點甚多，始終徘徊着一個可怕的幽靈。這位“偵探大夫”力排衆議，不顧個人安危，頂住上司的壓力和來自黑社會的威脅，多次趕赴案發現場調查研究。傑剋的行動卻受到幾乎所有人的懷疑、反對，三次險遭謀殺。“傑剋聽到一陣腳步聲朝自己走過來，他吸了一口氣，轉過頭來。當他看清來人是誰的時候，他頓時目瞪口呆。”傑剋在完全出乎他自己和包括譯者在內的所有讀者意料的情況下查清了事件幕後主使人，案情大白於天下。
我們知道，進入90年代，歐美大批作傢痛感歷史和現實與他們開了一個大玩笑，幾乎是在一夜之間將他們中的許多人遠遠地拋在了後邊。慘淡經營多時的作品頃刻間變成一堆廢紙。昔日的無數“間諜小說”、“冷戰作傢”立馬成了現代堂吉訶德。羅賓·科剋則是為數不算太多的例外之一，他時有新作問世，屢屢受到新老讀者的歡迎。究其原因，我們認為，說羅賓·科剋開了一個品種的通俗小說的先河，這話並不過分。
羅賓·科剋歷來以他的“醫學驚險小說”著稱，他的作品兼有社會小說和驚險小說兩方面的特色。他筆下的人物大多為像你我一樣的普通人，一般的醫生、警察、記者等等，作品關註的也是與普通人的生活息息相關的社會問題，與現代社會生活的楔合很緊密。他的故事往往以類似偵探小說的手法展開，情節麯折，環環相扣，引人入勝。本書又一次展示了作者在創作上的這些特色。全書始終貫穿着一條撲朔迷離扣人心弦的主綫，小說主人公、醫學檢查官傑剋的命運始終牽動着讀者的心。整個故事情節的發展充滿懸念，出人意料，但一切又盡在情理之中。我們一經開捲便不忍釋手，整個故事可以一口氣看下去。這也是羅賓·科剋作品的一種魅力。
同時，羅賓·科剋的作品始終具有現代暢銷書的快捷、流暢的特點。《緊急傳染》這部小說也和作者的其他作品一樣，讀者看不到無病呻吟式的冗長道白和令人生厭的、純屬浪費篇幅的景物描寫。但現代暢銷書的這種快捷、流暢的特點並沒有影響作者對人物的刻劃。作者的視綫聚焦在主人公傑剋的身上。醫學檢查官傑剋年輕時事業受挫，並為此付出了血的代價。厄運使傑剋消沉，但沒有使他道德淪喪。歷盡滄桑的傑剋依舊疾惡如仇，熱心熱腸。同時，作品也以簡潔明快的綫條，將他的兩位女友勞瑞和特瑞西刻劃得十分鮮活，招人喜愛。勞瑞和特瑞西是當今世界比較典型的職業婦女的形象。她倆都有強烈的事業心，對生活也都有執着的追求，但兩個人的性格卻迥然不同。這種性格上的差異最終導致了兩個職業婦女的不同結局。小說中的其他幾個人物，如傑剋的同事切特，微生物迷裏查德，醫學檢查官辦公處處長賓漢等形象也都刻劃得綫條流暢，栩栩如生。
譯者相信，本書也會像十多年前所介紹的《獅身人面像》一樣，受到廣大讀者的歡迎。
羅賓·科剋畢竟是中國讀者的老朋友了。
何文安
1996年5月一9月
重慶西南師範大學
He is best known for combining medical writing with the thriller genre. Many of his books have been bestsellers on the New York Times Bestseller List. Several of his books have also been featured in Reader's Digest. His books have sold nearly 100 million copies.
Biography
Cook is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Columbia University School of Medicine. He finished his postgraduate medical training at Harvard. He divides his time between homes in Boston and Naples, Florida where he lives with his wife, Jean, and son. He is currently on leave from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. He has successfully combined medical fact with fantasy to produce a succession of bestselling books. Cook's medical thrillers are designed, in part, to keep the public aware of both the technological possibilities of modern medicine and the ensuing ethical problems.
The Cousteau Society recruited Cook to run its blood-gas lab in the South of France. 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 1969.
Cook is a private member of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees, led by Chairman Joseph B. Gildenhorn, are appointed to six-year terms by the President of the United States.
[edit]Novels
Cook's novels have anticipated national controversy. Interviewer 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 anything 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 ethically questioning as stem cell research."
To date, he has explored issues such as organ donation, genetic engineering, fertility treatment, in - vitro fertilization, research funding, managed care, medical malpractice, medical tourism, drug research, and organ transplantation.
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 it. 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." He explained the popularity of his works thus: "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 not going to go into a hospital.
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Cook says he chose to write thrillers because the forum gives him "an opportunity to get the public interested in things about medicine that they didn't seem to know about. I believe my books are actually teaching people."
The author admits he never thought that he would have such compelling material to work with when he began writing fiction in 1970. "If I tried to be the writer I am today a number of years ago, I wouldn't have very much to write about. But today, with the pace of change in biomedical research, there are any number of different issues, and new ones to come," he says.
[edit]Film and Television Adaptations
Coma was made into a successful feature film (directed by fellow author/doctor Michael Crichton), as well as Sphinx starring Lesley-Anne Down and Frank Langella; and other Cook novels have also been made into television productions. In December 1993, CBS - TV aired Robin Cook's Harmful Intent; in November 1994, NBC - TV aired Mortal Fear; in May 1995, NBC - TV aired "Virus", based on Outbreak; and in February 1996 NBC - TV aired Terminal. In 2008, a prequel of Cook's forthcoming novel Foreign Body was produced as a 50-episode webseries by Michael Eisner's Vuguru and Big Fantastic, the creators of "Prom Queen (internet series)." In addition to Invasion, NBC - TV has two other Cook novels in production.
[edit]Bibliography
Year of the Intern (1972), ISBN 0-451-16555-1
Coma (1977), ISBN 0-451-20739-4
Sphinx (1979), ISBN 0-451-15949-7
Brain (1981), ISBN 0-451-15797-4
Fever (1982), ISBN 0-425-17420-4
Godplayer (1983), ISBN 0-425-17638-X
Mindbend (1985), ISBN 0-451-14108-3
Outbreak (1987), ISBN 0-425-10687-X
Mortal Fear (1988), ISBN 0-425-11388-4
Mutation (1989), ISBN 0-425-11965-3
Harmful Intent (1990), ISBN 0-425-12546-7
Vital Signs (1991), ISBN 0-425-13176-9
Blindsight (1992), ISBN 0-425-13619-1
Terminal (1993), ISBN 0-425-15506-4
Fatal Cure (1994), ISBN 0-399-13879-X
Acceptable Risk (1994), ISBN 0-399-13971-3
Contagion (1995), ISBN 0-425-15594-3
Chromosome 6 (1997), ISBN 0-425-16124-2
Invasion (1997), ISBN 0-425-21957-7
Toxin (1998), ISBN 0-425-16661-9
Vector (1999), ISBN 0-425-17299-6
Abduction (2000), ISBN 0-425-17736-X
Shock (2001), ISBN 0-425-18286-X
Seizure (2003), ISBN 0-425-19794-8
Marker (2005), ISBN 0-425-20734-X
Crisis (2006), ISBN 0-425-21657-8
Critical (2007), ISBN 978-0-399-15423-2
Foreign Body (2008), ISBN 0-399-15502-3
Intervention (2009), ISBN 0-399-15570-8
Cure (2010), ISBN 0-399-15662-3