Science Fiction Book Reviews:
Science Fiction Book Review By: Bob Spear, Publisher and Chief Reviewer, Heartland Reviews http://www.heartlandreviews.com
An emergency room doctor suspects a bio-terrorism weapon in the form of smallpox has been introduced into his hospital. He finds himself torn between nailing down the identity of the disease with certainty and fighting with naysayers which include the business administrator of his own hospital. This conflict and uncertainty builds throughout the story, bringing the reader to the edge of his chair.
The author, himself an emergency room physician, brings us inside the high pressure, overworked environment of the ER. He also gives us a glimpse of how unready this country is to deal with bio-terrorism.
Science Fiction Book Review by: Louise Riveiro-Mitchell author of Autumn Sky & Dark Skies of Autumn
Dr. Max Kroose, a widower with two small children, finds himself faced with a crisis. Though it starts out as a normal day in the ER and in the beginning the patients arriving with symptoms are supposedly diagnosed as the flu, it soon becomes evident that there is something more to their symptoms, something that can not only be deadly but reach epidemic proportions.
Though there had not been a case of smallpox since 1971, all the symptoms proved that it was very much alive in these patients. The story gives us a day-by-day hour-by-hour look at the efforts of Dr. Kroose and his staff to not only help those infected with the virus, but them trying to convince the hospital administration as well as the public health system that this is truly the beginning of a major epidemic.
The story that at one time I would think of as a wonderful fiction theory now after the events of 9/11 are not only very real but completely frightening! It also makes all of us wonder are we really safe from something like this and can we prevent it from becoming the deadly killer that will destroy the world? An interesting and frightening read and does make one think.
Science Fiction Book Review by: Tami Brady
Over the centuries, smallpox epidemics have devastated world populations
killing an estimated 40% of those that come in contact with the disease. In 1796,
Edward Jenner developed a vaccine that reduced the loss of life from this
catastrophic disease eventually leading to the complete eradication of the disease.
In 1980, the World Health Organization declared that no natural forms of smallpox
existed and most vaccination programs ceased to exist.
Due to recent world events and increase in the rise of terrorism, however, concerns have been raised about the potential of bioterrorism in the form of manmade forms of deadly diseases such as smallpox. As much of the population has not been vaccinated against smallpox, this disease could easily restart its horrible killing spree. Moreover, new bioengineered versions of this deadly disease could be created to be faster, more efficient killing mechanisms.
Sledgehammer tells the chilling story of what if. The story details five days in the life of a doctor working in the emergency ward when a man dies of what everyone thinks is the flu. Confused by the death of the previously perfectly healthy man, this doctor must not only fight through his own doubts about the true cause of the death but also through mountains of bureaucracy and his own imminent mortality. The result is such a true to live account that it is actually quite alarming.
Science Fiction Book Review by: Harriet Klauser
Posted on Amazon/Barnes & Noble. Gut wrenching medical thriller-- A year ago a DUI killed his beloved wife Leana, leaving ER physician Dr. Max Kroose to raise their two preadolescent children alone except for their nanny Esmeralda. After dropping the kids at school, Dr. Kroose expects a normal day of traumas and tragedy. As always, ER is overwhelmed so when his son takes a nasty spill at school, but is okay he has no time to pick him up.
A patient arrives with strange symptoms that reminds Max somewhat of smallpox yet seems more powerful than a disease most people thought eradicated. As the clock ticks, Max becomes increasingly convinced that they are dealing with a lethal strand of smallpox. He fails to persuade the skeptical bottom line hospital administrator Kilgorn to arrange mass vaccination to prevent a pandemic spread. His only chance resides with his friend a bio-weapons researcher, but even if he somehow receives help, Max knows that the potential for spreading has walked out the hospital door numerous times.
This is a gut wrenching medical thriller that centers on how relatively easy the spread of a bio-weapon can occur in this country. Max keeps the story line realistic and together as he goes from the daily troubles of a single dad who has had no time to mourn his loss to fears for his two children and others from a stalking killer. His frustrations mount as he fails to convince anyone that vaccination is needed as the health system calculates the cost as greater than the risk. Paulo J. Reyes provides a SLEDGEHAMMER to a system that set up to insure mass failure when (not if) the crisis happens.
Science Fiction Book Review by: Joe Shea- Editor's Choice
'SLEDGEHAMMER' POUNDS AWAY AT SMALLPOX THREAT
American Reporter Correspondent--Bradenton, Fla.
This one can - "Sledgehammer" is a gripping, powerful portrait of an American emergency room physician encountering the "index" case of a national bioterrorist attack by Islamic terrorists.
I get books in the mail from a number of publishers, and it's honestly rare that I get around to reading one. But Dr. Paulo J. Reyes' novel of an American physician trying to deal with what presents as an ambiguous case of pox - monkey pox, chicken pox, smallpox, who knows? - is unnerving and engaging in the extreme. It is probably the best bio-warfare thriller of the dozen-odd I've read in the past 10 years.
The story has an almost Aristotelian ethic in its observance of time. Everything that's important happens within a tightly-wound period of about six days, and all of it takes place within the confines of a a hospital - in fact, except for the opening scene at the doctor's home and some telephone calls that go in and out of the hospital, the hospital and its emergency room, ICU and corridors are the only locales.
That helps to focus the action of this compelling novel about a weaponized form of smallpox, called "sledgehammer" for its forceful appearance - it kills within a few days - that is introduced into a busy emergency room somewhere in California (we presume it's a suburb of Los Angeles, but that's never clear) and eventually takes hundreds of thousands of lives across the United States.
The action really comes in the form of increasingly desperate attempts to save the lives of a variety of victims, only one of whom actually has come down with smallpox. That victim, a terrorist using the name 'Villalobos" who pretends to be from Mexico but is a Middle Eastern terrorist trained in the rugged Pamir Mountains of Afghanistan, is only slowly revealed as both a smallpox victim and a terrorist. Thus, the veil is drawn back slowly, a chapter at a time, and amid the revelations concerning "Villalobos" are half a dozen hypnotizing accounts of sick and dying children, alcoholics, women and others in life-threatening condition as they are treated by a highly skilled and close-knit nursing team and a dedicated physician, Dr. Max Kroose. There is a small, sad love story woven within the narrative, and some exemplary acts of courage that are both genuine and entirely unexpected.
Amid the controlled chaos of the nursing room we get a telling glimpse of a hospital administrator who is far more knowledgeable about costs than about his responsibility to the first responders who work on his staff; at the internecine warfare between physicians over insured vs. uninsured patients and their care; at the prima donnas who sometimes risk the lives of their patients for points of personal pride; at public health officials whose first concern is bureaucratic protocols and whose last concern is public health; about the way in which Fort Detrick, Md., the home of American bioterror research, may have engaged in some underhanded and dangerous - and probably necessary - experimentation with smallpox; about the real threat of smallpox to an unprepared world; and, not least of all, a horrifying and unforgettable glance at the ravaging course of the most dreaded disease on earth.
This a book that is chock full of a surgeon's jargon, and while many may have trouble with that, it greatly increases the book's overwhelming realism -- Joe Shea is Editor-in-Chief of the American Reporter and edits our Book Review. Copyright 2005 Joe Shea The American Reporter. All Rights Reserved.
Science Fiction Book Review By:
Lightwood Publishing www.lightwordreviews.com
Today's real threat of a terrorist smallpox attack is dramatically illustrated in a riveting fictional account. The Author has 25 years ER medical experience, and has thoroughly researched the implications of this threat. The scene covers six crucial days when a terrorist comes into a Los Angeles emergency room with smallpox symptoms.
Noteworthy: In addition to the timeliness of the theme, the gripping novel covers in detail information all of us should be aware of. The characters spring to life as time grows increasingly short to save our country from this pandemic. Readers will gasp learning how inadequately prepared we are for this event today, and how we can prepare.
We welcome professional Science Fiction Book reviews and would be glad to send you a copy of our book. E-mail publicist Diana
diana@virtualwordpublishing.com
Dr. Reyes is available for media interviews, radio interviews, etc. by contacting
Publisher Diana Ennen at Diana@pauloreyes.com or 954.971.4025 |
