The Cabinet of Curiosities And Other Book Stories

And here I thought Michael Crichton was the best when it comes to science-based thrillers. And Robin Cook comes next for those heart-stopping medical thrillers.  I heard of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child from some friends at Shelfari where I have my virtual library but it didn’t make me curious to find any of their books until I found a copy of The Cabinet of Curiosities in one of my forays at Booksale. I was hooked.  I have just finished reading it an hour ago, after  starting the first chapter last night till my eyes  hurt  and I felt so sleepy. It’s a page-turner and I can’t put it down. Reading about 19th century New York was a sure come-on.

In the 19th century, New Yorkers flocked to collections of strange and grotesque oddities called “cabinets of curiosities.” Now, in lower Manhattan, a modern apartment tower is slated to rise on the site of one of the old cabinets. Yet when the excavators break into a basement, they uncover a charnel pit of horror: the remains of thirty-six people murdered and gruesomely dismembered over 130 years ago by an unknown serial killer.

In the aftermath, FBI Special Agent Pendergast and museum archaeologist Nora Kelly embark on an investigation that unearths the faint whisper of a mysterious doctor who once roamed the city, carrying out medical experiments on living human beings. But just as Nora and Pendergast begin to unravel the clues to the century-old killings, a fresh spree of murder and surgical mutilation erupts around them. . . and New York City is awash in terror.

Don’t ask me why I love reading science fiction and medical thrillers. I learned a lot from Robin Cook , a doctor in real life who writes about medical malpractices encountered by some patients while under treatment. I didn’t eat hamburger for about a year I guess when I read his book Toxin, fascinated with how Ebola virus came through in his book Outbreak which was also made into a film. I understood  more about cancer marker testing in his more recent book entitled Marker. I was so amazed with his books that I started collecting all of his published works three years ago, some of them, most of them I lost during typhoon Ondoy. I have about ten books left which I plan to re-read one of these days.

Michael Crichton was one of the best of course. I read Andromeda Strain when I was in college  followed by The Terminal Man. And who could forget Sphere, Congo and the movie he directed Coma which was based on the novel by Robin Cook?

Charles W. Eliot couldn’t have said it better and I quote: “Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.” How true!

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