By Robin Cook
Putnam Publishing Group
Hardcover and Audio Cassette (Abridged) Editions

Two Harvard graduate students. One infertility clinic willing to pay $45,000 for Ivy League eggs.

The offer seems too good to be true. And is.

Deborah Cochrane and Joanna Meissner study the ad from the Wingate Infertility Clinic. A simple egg donation procedure and they could land enough cash to write their thesis in Italy and still have enough to buy a condo in Boston.

Deborah's sold. Joanna eventually comes around.

But upon their return from Italy, Joanna feels a strong urge to find out if her eggs were successfully fertilized for a childless couple. This time, Deborah needs convincing but her curiosity leans more toward the type of research the Wingate's conducting. And what they dig up leads to more questions than answers.

They alter their appearance and decide to go undercover. Using their college education, Joanna gets a job performing data entry at the clinic. Deborah takes a job in the lab.

Still more questions. Even stranger, the founder of the clinic makes a play for Deborah and ends up being the key to the information they so desperately seek.

What they find, though, is nothing less than shocking. An ethical, even illegal, violation. And it makes Deborah and Joanna the prime targets of a highly organized cover up. A cover up that has them at the head of the hit list.

Bookworm's Briefing
Doctor and author Robin Cook lends his medical expertise to another bestselling novel. Shock examines the latest stem cell and embryonic research and asks an extreme, "What if?" If the suspenseful plot doesn't get you, the surprise ending will.