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Coded to Kill

5 Star Review


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Editorial Book Review:

By Cameron Cooper


After reading Coded to Kill by Marschall Runge, M.D., I'm really amazed by how it looks at the scary effects of technology combining with healthcare. The book quickly goes from being an exciting new idea about an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system being used in a high-tech hospital to a darkly suspenseful thriller. As the number of strange deaths rises, people inside the company, from doctors to IT experts, start to suspect that this "life-saving" technology may actually be used for something much worse. What I liked most about the book was how well it combined medical information with an interesting plot. This showed that the author had personal experience with both the healthcare business and the digital risks that come with new technologies.


The story brilliantly tackles ethical dilemmas in medicine, especially the potential misuse of patients’ digital data. With a former NSA agent eager to exploit the EHR, the plot brings a level of realism that is deeply unsettling—reflecting very real concerns about data security in an age where medical records are increasingly digitized. The characters, each with their own flaws and fears, navigate a tense environment where the line between beneficence and malevolence blurs with each suspicious incident. Runge’s medical knowledge really shines through here; he paints a believable picture of the inner workings of hospital systems and the possible pitfalls of blindly embracing digital advancements without scrutinizing the risks.


What really resonated was the book’s insight into how vulnerable healthcare has become to cyber threats and manipulation. With his extensive medical and molecular biology background, Runge gives an urgency to the thriller’s core message: while innovation can enhance patient care, it also creates new ethical challenges. This book made me think because it had a good mix of tension, moral questions, and accurate technical information. It made me wonder how safe our medical information really is in this digital age. Coded to Kill isn't just a thriller; it's also a wake-up call that's cleverly wrapped up in a thrilling and powerful story. That kind of book makes you nervous, both about what will happen to the characters and about what it means for the future of healthcare.


About the Author 

Marschall Runge M.D.



Marschall S. Runge, M.D., Ph.D., is the executive vice president for Medical Affairs at the University of Michigan, dean of the Medical School, and CEO of Michigan Medicine. He earned his doctorate in molecular biology at Vanderbilt University and his medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he also completed a residency in internal medicine. He was a cardiology fellow at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He is the author of over 250 publications and holds five patents for novel approaches to health care. As a Texas native who spent fifteen years in North Carolina and an avid thriller reader, Runge has experienced so many you-can’t-make-this-up events that his transition to fiction was inevitable.

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