Angela Dawson, M.D., appears to have it all: at thirty-seven, she owns a fabulous New York City apartment, a stunning seaside house on Nantucket, and enjoys the perks of her prosperous lifestyle. With her controlling interest in three busy specialty hospitals in NYC and plans for others in Miami and Los Angeles, Angela's future looks very bright. But her climb to the top was rough, marked by a troubled childhood, a failed marriage, and the devastating blow of bankruptcy.Then a surge of drug-resistant staph infections in all three hospitals devastates Angela's carefully constructed world. Not only do the infections result in patient deaths, but the fatalities cause stock prices to tumble. Will Angela be able to hold her empire together? Newly married Medical examiners Laurie Montgomery and Jack Stapleton are professionally and personally intrigued by these deaths. With Jack facing surgery in one of the hospitals to repair a torn ligament, Laurie can't help investigating, opening a Pandora's box of corporate intrigue that threatens not just her livelihood, but her life with Jack as well.

Dr. Robin Cook (born May 4, 1940 in New York City, New York) is an American physician and novelist who writes about medicine and topics affecting public health.
He is best known for combining medical writing with the thriller genre. Several of his books have been bestsellers on the "New York Times" Bestseller List. Several of his books have also been featured in Reader's Digest.