What do You think about Mindbend (1986)?
Adam Schonberg is an aspiring young doctor who is forced to drop out of medical school and take a job with Arelon - a pharmaceutical company - when his wife Jennifer becomes pregnant unexpectedly. Adam's new job with Arelon is extremely lucrative, and the company itself is gigantic with aspirations of ultimately dominating the medical field. He becomes suspicious of the company's practices when some of its physician employees begin to act strangely.Extremely worried about her pregnancy due to a family history of severe birth defects, Jennifer's gynecologist prescribes a morning sickness medication created by Arelon. The medication proves to be ineffective and potentially dangerous, and Adam demands that Jennifer stop taking it and change doctors. Their already strained relationship becomes hostile as Adam becomes increasingly more determined to discover Arelon's secrets; he begins an investigation into the company which reveals more than Adam could have ever even imagined. I must say that I enjoyed this book much more than I expected I would. Generally, I like Robin Cook as an author and have probably read about six or seven of his books in the past. However, occasionally I do have a little trouble getting into some of the plots of Robin Cook's books. I had no such trouble with Mindbend and I give this book an A+!
—Mary
I didn't like this medical thriller as much as I have liked Cook's other books. Adam Schonberg is a third-year medical student when his wife Jennifer becomes pregnant. Adam finds the loss of her income and the cost of an infant to be overwhelming; so he makes the decision to drop out of medical school and work as a salesman for a very powerful drug company Arolen Pharmaceuticals. Just how powerful its control over the medical field is, Adam is about to find out. When his own wife's pregnancy becomes threatened, Adam fights to save his family from evil even when threatened with violence himself. Very futuristic--not my usual genre. Most of the other Cook books I've read have a more contemporary setting. From the title I think you get the picture this one is about mind control. Though, like Cook's other books, there is a warning here about the control drug companies have over the medical field--just not to the extent of Arolen. It's scary to think the drug companies can present doctors with only the facts about their drugs that they want them to see; doctors need to do their homework.
—Kathy Schultz
