Pump Up Your Book Tours is pleased to bring you author Paul Flower’s The Redeeming Power of Brain Surgery (Suspense) virtual book tour April 1-30.
Title: The Redeeming Power of Brain Surgery: A Suspense Novel
Author: Paul Flower
Publisher: Scribe Publishing Company
Publication Date: June 1, 2013
Pages: 250
ISBN: 978-0985956271
Genre: Susepense
Format: Paperback, eBook (.mobi / Kindle), PDF
Jesse Tieter, M.D. has carefully constructed the ideal life. But lately, neither his Chicago-based neurology practice nor his wife and son are enough to suppress the memories that have haunted him since he was a little boy. He can’t stop thinking about that summer day in 1967 when his father died.
So Jesse is heading back. Back to the town and the place where a long-repressed horror occurred. Back to make sure his twin keeps the family’s secret buried.
But what will he uncover along the way?
Book
Excerpt:
His
son’s hand felt like a lie. Lately, to him, everything felt this
way. The look of sadness on his wife’s face, the burn of a drink in
his throat, the whine of a saw in the O.R.; nothing seemed true.
Nothing was real anymore. He felt out of balance, too. Even now, the
school building, the flag slapping against the heavy fall
sky¬¬—everything was tipping away from him. It was as though he’d
gotten up that morning and screwed on his head carelessly, as though
he hadn’t threaded it good and tight. While shaving, he’d cut
himself, a discrete, semi-intentional knick just under the curve of
his chin. He’d stood there like an idiot, eyes feeding the message
“blood” to his brain, nerve endings responding with “pain”
and the logic center unable to formulate a response.
“Dad?
Daddy?”
“Uh?
Wha’?”
“Pick
up the pace. Chop chop. Move out.”
Now,
as he snaked through the crush of other parents and children, he had
to look down to convince himself the boy was there, attached to the
hand, flesh and bone. The red hair, “his mother’s hair”
everyone called it, was sliced by a crisp white part; his head
bounced in beat with his sneakered feet. The child was so painfully
real he couldn’t be a lie.
It
amazed him that his son looked so much like his wife, especially the
tiny mouth, the way it was set in a crooked, determined line. He was
a kid who liked to have fun, but he could be fierce. Today, the
challenge of a new school year, of third grade, had brought out the
determined streak. This was good. They would need that streak, he and
his mother would.
“Whoa.”
The tiny hand now was a road sign, white-pink flesh facing him,
commanding him. Far enough. He obeyed. Squatting, arms out for the
anticipated embrace, he suddenly wanted to tell everything. Tears
swam. His throat thickened. The earth tilted and threatened to send
him skittering over its edge. There was the slightest of hugs, the
brush of lips on his cheek then the boy was off, skipping toward the
steps as though third grade challenged nothing, caused no fear, as
though the world was in perfect balance.
He
walked back to his Lincoln Navigator with the exaggerated care of a
drunk who didn’t want anyone to know his condition. He got behind
the wheel and suddenly was no longer in his 50s; he felt 16 and too
small, too skinny and insignificant to handle the giant SUV.
He
nosed the vehicle toward home, alternately trembling and gripping the
wheel as he merged with the morning traffic. The plan struck him now
as odd and silly, the challenges too great. His hands, already red
and scaly, itched fiercely. Get a grip, he told himself. Get a grip.
His
tired mind—when was the last time he’d really slept well?—jumped
from one stone of thought to another. Was everything covered at work?
The bills—had he paid them all? Did his wife suspect anything? Yes.
No. Absolutely. Of course not. Relax. Relax. He left the expressway
at the exit that took him past their church and wondered if the
church, too, was a lie. What of the wedding there so many years ago?
Through
a stoplight and past a Dunkin’ Donuts, his gaze floated around a
corner. A flash of inspiration—hit the gas. Let the tires slide and
the back-end arc around. Let physics have its way until the big
vehicle broke free from the grip of gravity and danced head over end,
coming to a stop with him bleeding and mercifully, gratefully dead
inside.
No. He
had something to do. Had he figured the angles right? Gotten the plan
tight enough?
A horn
jabbed through his reverie. He had drifted into the turn lane of the
five-lane street. He jerked the wheel and cut across traffic into the
right lane. Tires screeched, horns screamed. A black Toyota streaked
past on his left, the driver’s fist, middle finger erect, thrust
out the window.
Rage,
sharp and bitter, bubbled in his throat. He hesitated, then jammed
his foot on the accelerator, cut the wheel hard, and sent the
Navigator careening into the left lane.
A
staccato barrage of profanity pounded the inside of his skull. He bit
his tongue to keep the words in. His heart hammered and a familiar,
dizzying pressure filled his ears. The SUV roared ahead, past one
car, past a semi then another car, quickly closing the gap on the
speeding Toyota. He couldn’t see the car’s driver but he could
imagine him, some stupid, simple-minded schmuck, eyes locked on the
rear-view mirror as the lumbering Lincoln grew larger, larger,
larger. The instant before he would slam into the smaller vehicle, he
jabbed his brake and turned again to the left. There was a squeal of
tires and more horns bleating behind him; the semi rig’s air horn
bellowed angrily past. Ramrod straight, eyes fixed ahead on the
now-slow-moving car disappearing tentatively around a curve, he
brought the Navigator to a shuddering stop in the center lane. He
tensed and waited for the resounding WHUMP of a crash from behind.
None came. Face flushed and eyes gleaming, suddenly rejuvenated, he
accelerated quickly then eased the Navigator back into the flow of
traffic—no looking back.
Discuss this book in our PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads by clicking HERE
Paul Flower is an author, advertising copywriter/creative director and a journalist.
He has written and produced award-winning advertising for print, radio, television, outdoor, the Web––really, just about every medium––for business-to-consumer and business-to-business accounts.
His news features have appeared in regional and national magazines. His first novel, “The Redeeming Power of Brain Surgery,” was published in June 2013 by Scribe Publishing. Visit Paul’s website at paulflower.net.
Author Website: paulflower.net
Author Page / Publisher Website: http://scribe-publishing.com/brain/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paulflower.writer
Twitter: https://twitter.com/flowerpaul
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7137509.Paul_Flower
Tour Dates: April 1-30
Wednesday, April 1
Thursday, April 2
Friday, April 3
Monday, April 6
Tuesday, April 7
Wednesday, April 8
Thursday, April 9
Friday, April 10
Monday, April 13
Tuesday, April 14
Wednesday, April 15
Thursday, April 16
Friday, April 17
3 Partners in Shopping: Nana, Mommy, and Sissy Too! – Book Review
Monday, April 20
Quirky Book Reviews – Book Review
Tuesday, April 21
Fiction Zeal – Book Spotlight
Wednesday, April 22
The Literary Nook – Book Spotlight
Thursday, April 23
Pimp That Character – Character Interview
Friday, April 24
My Life, Loves and Passion – Book Spotlight
Monday, April 27
CBY Book Club – Character Interview
Tuesday, April 28
Terry’s Book Reviews, News and Author Interviews – Book Review
Jersey Girl Book Reviews – Book Review
Wednesday, April 29
PUYB Book Club – Book Spotlight
Thursday, April 30
A Little Bit of R&R – Book Spotlight
The Literature Exchange – Book Spotlight
My review;"The Power of Brain Surgery" is a great book. Once I started reading it I did not want to stop until I finished it. The storyline and the characters were well developed. Jessie Tieter, M.D. is going to leave his great life and go back to stop the bad memories that he has tried to forget. He is going back to the place where all of this started. Will he be able to or will he be in danger? I give this book a 4/5. I was given this book for the purpose of a review and all opinions are my own.
Thank you for hosting the tour. - Kathleen Anderson, PUYB Tour Coord.
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