| A Case of Need | |
 First edition cover |
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| Author | Michael Crichton |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Mystery novel |
| Publisher | Signet |
| Publication date | 1968 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 416 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-451-21063-8 |
A Case of Need is a mystery novel written by Michael Crichton under the pseudonym Jeffery Hudson. John Michael Crichton, ˈkraɪtən, (born October 23 1942 is an American author Film producer, Film director, Medical doctor, and Television producer The United States of America —commonly referred to as the English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of Literature or Information &ndash the activity of making information available for public view A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a Book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with Cloth Paperback, softback, or softcover describe and refer to a Book by the nature of its binding. John Michael Crichton, ˈkraɪtən, (born October 23 1942 is an American author Film producer, Film director, Medical doctor, and Television producer John Michael Crichton, ˈkraɪtən, (born October 23 1942 is an American author Film producer, Film director, Medical doctor, and Television producer It was first published in 1968 and won an Edgar Award in 1969. The Edgar Allan Poe Awards (popularly called the Edgars) named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America.
The novel is a medical thriller in which a Boston pathologist, Dr. Pathology (from Greek grc πάθος pathos, "fate harm" and grc -λογία -logia) is the study and John Berry, independently investigates the death of a young woman, Karen Randall. Berry becomes involved when his friend Dr. Arthur Lee is implicated in Karen's death: Lee is accused of performing the abortion on Karen Randall that led to her death. An Crichton's later novels are preoccupied with technology: his novels can be extended examinations of the morality and implications of a particular innovation draped over the structure of a thriller novel. In A Case of Need, however, it is a medical practice and not a techological innovation that is at issue.
Plot summary
The protagonist, Dr. John Berry, learns that his friend, an obstetrician named Arthur Lee, has been accused of performing an illegal abortion that led to the death of Karen Randall. Obstetrics (from the Latin obstare, "to stand by" is the surgical speciality dealing with the care of a woman and her offspring during Pregnancy Berry sets out to clear his friend of suspicion. Unfortunately for Lee and Berry, Lee is known in the medical community as an abortionist. Berry also has a personal stake in the outcome of the case: Berry helps Lee disguise medical samples to hide the fact that Lee's dilation and curettage patients were pregnant. Dilation (dilatation and curettage literally refers to the dilation (opening of the Cervix and surgical removal of the contents of the Uterus. In the course of his investigation, Berry runs up against the powerful Randall family, an established Boston medical dynasty. He also gathers a portrait of Karen's past, psychology, and character.
Major themes
The morality of abortion is the primary theme of the novel. Despite acknowledging the metaphysical arguments against abortion, Crichton never fully confronts them or attempts to disprove them. The tension between the arguments for and against abortion gives the book the gray-area milieu of a noir novel. Hardboiled Crime fiction is a literary style pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the A Case of Need has several similarities to a noir novel: its investigative structure; the clean, utilitarian prose; Dr. Berry's encounters with Boston's seamier inhabitants. In addition, Karen Randall's heightened sexual activity can be seen as a reference to General Sternwood's nymphomaniac daughter in Raymond Chandler's classic novel, The Big Sleep. Hypersexuality is the desire to engage in Human sexual behavior at a level high enough to be considered clinically significant Raymond Thornton Chandler ( July 23, 1888 &ndash March 26, 1959) was an American Author of crime stories and novels The Big Sleep is a 1939 novel by Raymond Chandler, with two film versions one filmed in 1945, and another filmed in 1978.
Racial politics is a less prominent but recurring theme. It appears almost immediately with the revelation that Arthur Lee is half-Chinese. Berry discovers later that Karen had sexual relationships with a Jewish athlete and a black musician, both taboo for a member of a white, conservative, established Boston family in the 1960s. Later, Lee's attorney, George Wilson, is described as "a kind of freak, a product which society had suddenly deemed valuable, an educated Negro. "
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