Bellevue is a medical thriller with a supernatural twist with great potential. I was really drawn in for the opening sections of the book as backstory was presented and strange happenings were introduced. However, it went a bit downhill after that. I was a bit put off by the heavy use of jargon (not unexpected in a medical thriller, but it was a bit much, especially with the addition of architectural jargon), and the characters didn't always ring true for me. I'll perhaps recommend this to fans of Robin Cook (with caveats), but probably not to a lot of other readers who come into the store.

This was a super creepy read and let's just ghosts can't really interact with humans in such a way! Robin Cook always does such a great job with medical jargon that it adds to the story instead of distracting from it. He is on my always-read list and I can't wait to see what he puts out next!

#Bellevue
#NetGalley

If you are a fan of medical thrillers by this author, as I have been, it might be best for you to skip this suspense horror with its supernatural elements and a totally horrible (to me) ending.

A first year surgical resident, Dr. Mitt Fuller, is beginning his career at Bellevue. He comes from a long line of Fuller doctors and is super thrilled to be at this particular hospital. Little does he know that the stories he’s been told about his forebears are inaccurate. In fact, they all were practicing on the wrong side of what are now accepted medical advances. In his first week, all of his patients die of strange complications. Now that’s not a statistic any new surgeon wants on his record. But it gets worse. Strange apparitions are haunting Mitt and soon he learns why. Unable to leave well enough alone despite the warnings, Mitt finds out the truth in the worst way.

I was so disappointed in this. Although I loved all the medical details and descriptions, the whole paranormal focus ruined the novel for me. I was able to listen to the audiobook while also following along in the e-book ARC provided by the publisher. The narrator did a good job with the material and brought the story to life, but it was not enough to overcome the real issue with the book — the plot and the conclusion.

If you are in to ghost stories, this is definitely one for you! Working in a hospital, where his deceased relatives used to work and made a big impact on the hospital itself. He is haunted their past decisions! Can he turn things around for the old patients still roaming the halls? I never saw this ending coming!!

Robin Cook’s name has been synonymous with the medical thriller for over 40 years, since he possibly invented the subgenre in his highly popular second novel, “Coma.” In many of his works, Cook depicts plausible real-world scenarios that are highly scary for many readers. Sinister doctors, hospitals, clinics, and pharmaceutical companies are often responsible for widespread death and suffering. In other books, deadly diseases threaten to ravage the world. However, the nature of the threats in every Cook thriller is always rooted in science and the real world. People or nature cause the danger, not demonic forces. Now, after over 40 years as a doctor and an author, Cook has introduced the supernatural into his latest medical thriller, “Bellevue.” Unfortunately, Cook fares far better as a physician than a would-be Stephen King.

As the title suggests, “Bellevue” takes place at the world-famous Bellevue Hospital in New York City. Bellevue is nearly 300 years old and is the oldest and one of the largest public hospitals in the United States. Although it’s a general hospital, Bellevue is best known to the public for its inpatient psychiatric treatment. However, since the late 1990s, the former psychiatric hospital has been closed, and the building that housed it was largely abandoned. That building and the 25-story modern-day hospital next door are the settings for Cook’s novel.

The protagonist of “Bellevue” is Mitt Fowler, a recent medical school graduate beginning his first-year residency at Bellevue. His choice of residency location is personal; several ancestors of his were prominent doctors at Bellevue over the past three centuries. Mitt’s residency gets off to a horrible start. He assists with several surgeries and consults on other patients. Unfortunately, the first seven patients under his care in any way all die within a couple of days of surgery. Some of them were seriously ill, but others had routine surgery and then developed sudden, bizarre complications.

To make matters worse, Mitt has strange visions. He starts seeing phantoms who look like horribly disfigured patients from decades or centuries earlier. Mitt had always had psychic feelings, but nothing like the horrifying images he now experiences. One vision is particularly distinct: a young girl holding an unusual medical instrument in one hand. In the book’s prologue, readers learn this girl died in 1949 as a result of a botched lobotomy performed by Mitt’s great-grandfather, Dr. Clarence Fuller, a prominent Bellevue psychiatrist of that era. Clarence used the same instrument to perform the lobotomy that the girl now holds. As Mitt investigates his distinguished ancestors further, he learns that they all eschewed medical advances of their time, such as using anesthesia or sterilizing the surgical theater before operations. Mitt guesses the visions he’s seeing are other patients who died as a result of his ancestors’ malpractice.

Robin Cook’s strength as a writer is his ability to make complex medical situations comprehensible for lay readers. As a result, the first half of “Bellevue” is not just enjoyable, but also highly engaging, even if Mitt’s patients don’t fare well. Cook describes operations, post-operative rounds, and emergency resuscitation efforts so that readers feel they are in the same room. (The hospital’s crash cart stays very busy one night.) The author also provides insight into Mitt’s personal life (primarily the lack thereof) during the week the book covers. Mitt lives within easy walking distance of the hospital but only gets there rarely. Instead, he’s on call most of the time that he’s not in surgery, so he tries to catch a couple of hours of sleep in the residents’ lounge. He also visits the 24-hour hospital cafeteria at all hours of the night to grab something to eat when he can.

I would have been happy to follow Mitt through his entire surgical rotation with Robin Cook as my tour guide. However, the author has other ideas. As “Bellevue” progresses, so do Mitt’s visions. In that regard, Robin Cook is not as good at describing supernatural phenomena as medical complications. His writing is too rooted in the real world to make his flights of ghoulish fancy seem plausible within the bounds of a horror story. Cook does his best to create atmosphere by sending Mitt to the abandoned psychiatric hospital late at night to get additional records about some former patients. The atmosphere here is suitably creepy, thanks to the author’s description of the building’s distinctive architecture. However, the payoffs readers expect in horror stories never arrive.

The author also employs a very annoying plot device two-thirds of the way through “Bellevue.” While eating a post-midnight meal in the cafeteria one night, Mitt meets the late shift’s maintenance supervisor. This woman serves as an information dump to fill in all the plot details Mitt and readers were unaware of previously. She also conveniently has access to the old building, where vital records are stored. (Her explanation of why she can’t just bring the records out to Mitt never makes much sense.) She shares Mitt’s psychic gifts as well, which is another plot device the author never adequately explains. Apparently, Mitt gets bad vibes and hears and smells things when he’s near a place where something terrible occurred in the past. (In Bellevue, that could describe most of the hospital.)

As the novel progressed, I noticed that “Bellevue” was running out of pages, and the storyline didn’t seem to be wrapping up. I hoped the author wouldn’t end the book on some sort of cliffhanger. I was right in that regard, but the actual ending was worse. The author clearly intended to shock readers. However, while the book’s conclusion was gruesome, it wasn’t a big surprise, and it felt like a cop-out after the author had run out of ideas on finishing the book.

“Bellevue” was a major disappointment for me. The book’s first half was informative and sometimes gripping, providing entertaining insight into a first-year surgical resident’s arduous routine. However, the second half often resembled a mediocre self-published horror novel too frequently found on Amazon. There’s a tremendous medical novel lurking within the corridors of Bellevue Hospital, but “Bellevue” isn’t it. My prescription for Robin Cook is to get some rest, stick to medicine, and leave the horror to professionals.

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.

i love medical thrillers, especially by Robin Cook

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this work!

As a longtime fan of Cook, I was excited to check out this book, particularly with the Bellevue element. There is more of an eerie, ghostly angle to this book than in his other books, but I still found it to be highly enjoyable. The pacing is someone inconsistent at times, but the writing is vividly detailed, making it easy to engage. The characters and world building are well done. It was also interesting to learn about some of the historical medical practices, and the history of Bellevue, which are shown throughout the story.

As a fan of Cook’s this book was not a favorite. This book was just too slow and the supernatural element is something I’d prefer Cook stayed away from and just continued with his edge of the seat medical thrillers! Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I have read Robin Cook’s medical thrillers in the past and enjoyed them. I was excited to read this one due to the paranormal element and the setting of Bellevue.

I struggled through the book. I didn’t find any of the characters engaging as I didn’t feel there was any character development. I know that Mitt comes from a long line of doctors who worked at Bellevue, and did questionable things, and the patients of his relatives are now haunting him. You don’t get to know Mitt or any of the other characters in the book.

The last few chapters were interesting, but the ending was extremely abrupt and disjointed. It wasn’t a bad book, but it wasn't great.

Thank you to NetGalley, PENGUIN GROUP Putnam | G.P. Putnam's Sons, and Robin Cook for the eARC.

I’ve been a fan of Robin Cook for as long as I can remember. When I found out he was writing a new book with a paranormal aspect to it, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. This was definitely a departure from his normal stories! Personally, I liked the paranormal aspect. It had kind of a House on Haunted Hill vibe to it, which, of course, I am also a huge fan of. But it still maintained the very medical setting that Robin Cook has been known for. And while I was bummed at the ending, I still loved the story. I just wish it had turned out differently. So if you want an interesting paranormal medical thriller, do yourself favor and grab this book! If you’re looking for a happy ending however, this probably isn’t the book for you.

Huge thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Putnam and NetGalley for sending me this ARC for review! All of my reviews are given honestly!

Maybe it’s just me, but as a medical professional this book was absolutely the longest most drawn out book ever.
It doesn’t read as a horror or thriller or even a mystery. It was a whole lot of telling and internal monologue. I struggled to finish it. I finally did but this was definitely not the book for me.
I received an ARC of this title, all opinions are my own.

Finding a new book by Robin Cook is always a treat and instant move to top of TBR pile.
Bellevue is about a young intern, Mitt Fuller. A fourth generation doctor of the famous Bellevue Hospital in New York. He grew up hearing about all the discoveries and accomplishments of his ancestors and idolized them enough to follow in their career footsteps.
We learn very quickly that Mitt has abilities that let him somehow see his immediate future. I suppose seeing ghost couldn't have been far behind. His trouble begins almost instantly when he learns those ancestors he revered were not always on the right side of history.

There were some good moments in this novel but I also found myself sighting at the constant repetition of facts. If all the repeated plot points were removed this would be a novella or a short story. There was even a.moment I wondered if Mr. Cook had even written this, since it was nothing like his earlier works.
With all the repetition you never really got to know any of the characters and felt nothing much for them.
I wanted a deeper dive into why Mitt was being haunted, why Bellevue was haunted, and to feel dread at what I could see coming.
Unfortunately I never found that connection to any of the characters dead or alive.
All in all,a good book if you never read any of Cook's novels before or if you had a short attention span and needed to be reminded again and again that he was a descendant of Bellevue doctors or have his thoughts repeated.
Thanks to @netgalley and Putman Group for the opportunity to read the eArc in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

I was super excited to get an arc of one of former go to authors. I read Robin Cook medical thrillers in the early 2000s.

While the book was okay overall, it was a little long, and Mitt’s entitlement was grating. The medical background and the Bellevue history kept me engaged.

This storyline was a bit out there for a medical thriller though. I do love fantasy & the paranormal, but maybe not how this was executed. I kept waiting for something more to be revealed and then the book ended abruptly.

Just couldn’t get through this book, although I read and enjoyed several by this Author. Will pick it up at a later date and send a revised review.

Robin Cook is the master of the medical thrillers from his earlist novel that put him on the map Coma to tis year's Bellevue. Bellevue is about you guessed it Bellevue Hospital. He takes his main character Michael Fuller a surgical resident at the hospital. His family has been performing medicine at the hospital for generations and has a checkered past depending on who you ask. Mysterious deaths start to happen at the hospital and Michael'f firsct case ends in death. It also happen to him on hos next case. He sees things that are of another world and wonders why it;s happening and is he losing his mind. What will people think of him if he starts to explain his visions. Cook keeps you turning the pages and to see what is causing these visons from the past. Did his family have somethig to do with it in the experiments they did on patients? You'll need to rea it to find out. It's the first time The author has gone into non-scientific reasoning for why things are happening. There are lots of medical things in the novel too so you'll learn lots of stuff about that too. When I finish a Robin Cook novel I always say to myself stay healthy so you don't have to go to a hospital. So many things can go wrong!! Thank you to Putnam and Netgalley for the read!!

I really enjoyed this book. I've read the majority of the books this author has written. This book definitely had a different vibe. There were some serious Gothic vibes and I love that. If you enjoy medical books, shows or movies, this is a must read for you. The pacing was great and the ending left me shocked!

3.5⭐
I have been a fan of Robin Cook for probably close to 30 years. In middle school I’d say he was my favorite author- his book Toxin had such an impact on me that I stopped eating hamburgers and hotdogs for probably 2 decades lol. So when I saw this arc pop up, obviously I had to request it.
This book is filled with suspense, thrills and intellectualism. I really enjoyed how the author wove together the past and present with paranormal aspects and Will’s precognitive abilities, although I wish there had been more focus on the men in his family who had also passed through Bellevue. Overall this was an enjoyable read that I recommend.

A medical thriller and more. This my first book by Robin Cook and i definitely enjoyed it. Interestingly enough I worked in hospitals in NYC so this story was a cool visual.

Mitt is a first year resident at Belleview hospital. Day one strange things start happening and none of his patients have good outcomes. Is it Mitt? Mitt comes from a long line of Belleview physicians. Doctors that may have a shady past in terms of medical advances. Is what Mitt is experiencing his lack of sleep from being a resident or something more?

Mitt is a great character. His verbiage seems a bit older than his supposed 23 years but I was still invested in him. About 60% through the story I began to think the pace was a bit slow as not much had happened. There was an incredible amount of build up but the end rally was worth it. Just wish there was a bit more imagery there at the end. The idea was so good I wanted more of the ending!

Mitt Fuller, a new doctor, just graduated from college, is beginning his first year residency at New York's Bellevue Hospital. He is plagued with anxiety. He feels completely inadiquate to call himself doctor. Did he learn everything he needed in school? He is also from a long line of doctors. All prestigious in their times, can he follow in their footsteps?
His first day at Bellevue, Mitt gets first rotation as the on call overnight intern. His responsibility is to respond to any overnight patient medical emergencies. He hopes it will be a quiet l night, except he has a feeling of dread. His feelings are usually not wrong.
His first night is a nightmare. His next three days don't get any better. He is beginning to wonder if someone is sabotaging his patients for an unknown reason.
Then he learns some disturbing, less than flattering, details about the previous four generations of Fuller Doctors at Bellevue. His ancestors weren't exactly all he had been told. Is Mitt paying for the sins of his forebears?
This is a very exciting and atmospheric story, with an ending I never saw coming.

Thank you to Netgalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for the opportunity to enjoy this exciting e-ARC. (Now available for purchase)

This medical suspense had lots and lots of medical content, which, being a nurse, I ate up!! Loved all the patient cases and surgical explanations. One thing that bothered me is when staff were doing CPR, she kept calling it closed cardiac massage?? Never heard that one before. Anyway, the suspense was definitely there, as was the paranormal aspect. And that ending? Wow! If you enjoy medical thrillers with some ghosties, read this one!