Robin Cook's "Intervention"

I have to admit to being a Robin Cook fan, so my delight in "Intervention" might be explained away. However, this book has all the elements I look for in a book.  The characters were believable and interesting, the plot was full of twists and I really looked forward to the next chapter. If you like a book that all issues are finished at the end of the book, you'll hate this one. I finished the book about a week ago and am still thinking about some of the questions.

The story starts with forensic pathologist Jack, his colleague wife and terminally ill infant son. Jack worries about his son, his wife who does all the caretaking instead of pursuing her career and knows he's looking for distractions. He finds his first  distraction in researching alternative medical treatment caused deaths. He's still at the passionate stage, not yet being objective, when he gives up after hitting resistance continuously.  I spent some thinking time comparing the dangers of modern medicine to his findings against chiropractors, acupuncture, herbal remedies and the like. When he gave up, I was surprised by the plot turn, but felt it was typical human nature.

He drops the old distraction for a happier, more abstract one. He reenters the world of his college friends. One is the powerful archbishop and the other an ambitious, arrogant,  passionate archaeologist. Chapters are alternated between the friends and Jack. This, too, might disturb some people, but I didn't think it hurt the story flow. Sometimes I wanted to skip a chapter and read more about Jack, sometimes more about the friends.

Since it was unlikely that Robin Cook would write an ending denying the divinity of Mary, I was curious how he would avoid the final results of their research.. I thought he approached the discoveries well enough for the questions to go both ways. Even the final end of the book leaves an open question between conventional, medicine, alternative treatment or religious intervention.