MINDBEND by Robin Cook - book review


Purchased this book about 27 years earlier from the streets of flora fountain. By that time, the time available to me for street side browsing had decreased and so had the number stalls. Reselling books was a bad business and probably a facismile for selling somthing else, possibly street drugs. 
The first owner of the book had sold the book to ' Carey's bookshop & Records ' in England and the book was stamped 8 th July 1988. Year of publication being 1986, it was sold off fairly early at a cost of one sterling pound- most likely a young person wanting to read another book  in exchange , I assume. That certainly makes me the third reader. Even to this day the book is well preserved, travelling from England to Mumbai and making its way to Ratnagiri among us.

.        archive photo of Carey's bookshop 

Robin Cook had authored many popular books by the time this book was published , most well known being 'Coma' . This book had a different grit with an intention to bring forth a reality whose disclosure would be uncomfortable to the rich and the powerful. It required a bold and power author to bring the emotion to the populations at large. This book , if not alone , was one of the many efforts which led to legislations related to regulate  phamacetical and physician lobbying in the name of medical progress and intentional and clandestine violation of human rights. 

The book is a good read, not too long but has small print. The core idea is no longer unknown to most of us , but the storyline is impressive.

Pratyush Chaudhuri 

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