Miracle Cure: A Classic Medical Thriller

My Personal Rating:

Miracle Cure is Harlan Coben’s second novel and, if Wikipedia is to be believed, no longer published or printed.

The story begins with the murder of an epidemiologist, where the readers get a glimpse of the cold-blooded, unemphatic, and highly effective assassin. It is usually labeled as a medical thriller because it follows the links connecting the murders to, as the title suggests, a miracle cure for a ravaging disease.

But mostly (or to me at least), the book’s primary theme surrounds politics and bureaucracy. And it is the reason I find Coben’s application of fear and danger very effective. The protagonists are up against an intangible unassailable bigger-than-life adversary, an organization of subtle threats and constant power struggles, an adversary more dangerous than a physical enemy.

What I find most remarkable about Coben are his powerful opening chapters. Here, the book established a sense of urgency, uncertainty, and anticipation of peril right at the first chapter of the book, which sets the tone for the rest of the story. Readers are kept at the edge of their seats as Detective Bernstein tries to unveil the killer, unravel a tangle of political plots, opposing medical opinions, and the conspiracy behind the killings whilst keeping potential future victims safe.

The characters and character relationships are masterfully illustrated in the next chapters. In fact, each character was well developed, even the antagonist. So well that I may disagree with the antagonist’s actions, but I understand his motives and decisions. There are also close ties and deep friendships between the protagonists and antagonists, making for a more emotionally impacting plot and ending. This is because betrayal from a family or a friend staggeringly cuts deeper than that of any evil stranger.

The real mastermind’s identity was kept a mystery until the final chapters, as the author throws suspicions at every turn until readers (myself included) no longer know who to trust. Of course, the desired effect is to engage the readers who desperately try to guess the ending. The downside of keeping a lot of information until the end is, you guessed it, exposition dump. Instead of the characters catching the bad guy red-handed as the story unfolds, Coben decided to have the antagonist explain his motives and decisions to the helpless protagonist at gunpoint. Imagine Dr. Doofenshmirtz explaining his new evil contraption and evil plan to Perry, the platypus, while the latter is in a cage or chained.

I was slightly underwhelmed with Detective Bernstein vs. killer face off. I was expecting a good fight between the skilled martial artist murderer against the conflict – avoiding, no gun detective, or at least a good scheme to nail him. But instead, I was served a dialogue. It was as disappointing as the big boss’ “that’s it?” final knife chase.
The narrative concluded with the standard happy ending but with some gray resolution of the dilemma.

Overall, it may not have the explosive ending that it was set up for; hence many fans don’t appreciate Miracle Cure as much as the Myron Bolitar series, but good enough to make Coben one of the most celebrated thriller writers of today.

If you are into the crime-action thriller genre, this is the perfect book for you.