When Dr. Craig Bowman is served with a summons for medical malpractice, he's shocked, enraged, and more than a little humiliated. A devoted physician who works continuously in the service of others, he endured grueling years of training and is now a partner in an exclusive concierge medical practice. No longer forced to see more and more patients while spending less and less time with each one just to keep his office door open, he now provides the kind of medical care he is trained to do, lavishing twenty-four-hour availability and personalized attention on his handpicked patients. And at last, he is earning a significant income, no longer burdened by fallinfalling reimbursements from insurance companies.But this idyllic practice comes to a grinding halt one sunny afternoon-and gets much, much worse. Enter Dr. Jack Stapleton, a medical examiner in New York City and Bowman'sbrother-in-law: Jack's sister Alexis-now Craig's estranged wife-tearfully begs for his help as her husband's trial drags on. Jack agrees to travel to Boston to offer his forensic services and expert witness experience to Craig's beleaguered defense attorney. But when Jack's irreverent suggestion to exhume the corpse to disprove the alleged malpractice is taken seriously, he opens a Pandora's box of trouble. As Craig Bowman's life and career are put on the line, Jack is on the verge of making a mostunwelcome discovery of tremendous legal and medical significance-and thereare people who will do anything to keep him from learning the truth.

罗宾·库克（Robin Cook）　1940年5月4日生于纽约，医学博士，医学惊悚小说之父。他以其缜密的艺术构思，专业的医学知识，敏锐的前沿意识，在类型小说中独树一帜。