Description
The Plot:
Sarah Wade, MD is a female African-American, emergency medicine physician trying to prove herself worthy of the Chief Resident’s position. She’s under a lot of stress–on the job, with a non-existent social life, and now, trying to pass her Advanced Trauma Life Support course. When she discovers her surrogate patient, a medical student, is actually dying from a stab wound, her life begins to unravel. A misunderstanding with the Chief of Trauma Services threatens her career. Her best friend, Della Winston, witnesses the very public murder of a diplomat, which results in her kidnapping by the assailants.
Sarah’s life becomes entwined with that of Sgt. Seamus O’Connor, a white Irish detective who was first assigned to the medical student murder. His only goal is to solve his case, find the bad guy(s), and, hopefully, see justice … without a lot of “stuff” flowing downhill from the top brass. He gains Sarah’s trust only to find himself smothered with that “stuff.” As the city erupts in racial turmoil, Sarah and Seamus try to find Della, but stumble into a far larger conspiracy. The “Colonel” plans to use his Missouri White Alliance to introduce an engineered, viral combo that could devastate dark-skinned peoples globally.
The issues:
The story explores the issue of racism not just via the major plot line about racial genocide, but also through the unexpected relationship that develops between Sarah and Seamus. She is African-American and he is as white and Irish as they come. They have their Catholic backgrounds as common ground, but nothing more.
The potential threat of technology in the wrong hands should be apparent. Regarding biotechnology, the definition of genome is “a full set of chromosomes; all the inheritable traits of an organism.” The genome is God’s blueprint for life. Leave it to man’s “tinkering” to lead to trouble.
The theme of eternal destiny becomes an important turning point in the story. Let’s not spoil it by giving away anything more.
Author’s Note: I first got this idea when I took my own last Advanced Trauma Life Support course. What if one of the people role-playing as a patient really was a murder victim? And then I read about some folks protesting ads on the local bus system promoting a speech by known white supremacist. The two ideas merged into this story, my debut novel.
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