Book Review-Hybrid (Briar Hospital)-Lawrence W. Gold, MD

I just got back from doing a bit of research. Although this is a novel it is definitely based on current scientific knowledge! Briar Hospital does not figure into this book very much except at the beginning when frozen sperm from their lab was switched--4 or 5 vials of it! The switch went unnoticed.

Denise & Gabe tried to have children for a long time but nothing took. They finally decided to have Gabe's frozen sperm which was at the Briar Hospital Lab fertilize one of Denise's eggs. It worked and they were ecstatic. They were both highly intelligent and knew that their offspring-a son-would be as well. However--Zack was beyond intelligent and Denise and Gabe did everything in their power to shield him--he was that different!

Denise was part Basque and had lost most of her family to the unrest between the Spanish and the Basques. Out of this turmoil came a man whose family had been brutally murdered by the Spanish. He had managed to get political asylum in the US and opened a school for the study of the Basque culture. Zack ends up attending this school and what happens will sicken and possibly frighten you.

The ending made me smile--I was adopted and I can certainly relate when Zack said to Gabe “You’re my father, and you will always be my father. I love you.”

Another 5 Star for Dr. Gold!!

If you are interested in this topic here is a website you can go to and I'm sure if you go to Dr. Gold's Fiction and Medical News Site and ask (link below) - he will be able to explain it!! I also browsed several other sites----

About the Book: (from Amazon)

Denise Berg, a professor of psychology, and her molecular biologist husband, Gabe, expected an intelligent child. When Denise gave birth to Zack, they were thrilled. They were not surprised to find that Zack had physical and mental gifts, but were astounded by their magnitude. By every parameter, Zack was extraordinarily gifted and they took pride in their genes and in their good fortune.

What they didn’t know was that Zack’s gifts were the result of more than good luck and Berg family genes, but depended on genetic material from an unusual source. Zack’s abilities would ultimately attract others with less than benign interests.

Read a chapter or two here


Purchase the book here

About the Author: (from author's website)

I was born in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, moved to Queens, and then, as New Yorkers say, my family ascended to the Island. After graduating from Valley Stream Central High School, I went to Adelphi, a college then, a university now, and then to medical school in Chicago. The war in Vietnam interrupted my postgraduate medical training with a year in Colorado Springs and another as a Battalion Surgeon in Vietnam. I spent seven months in the Central Highlands with the 4th Infantry and five months in an evacuation hospital in Long Binh outside Saigon where I ran the emergency room. I returned intact in 1968 to complete my training in internal medicine and diseases of the kidney, nephrology. I worked for twenty-three years in Berkeley, California in a hospital-based practice caring for patients with complicated illnesses often in ICU, and served as Chief of Internal Medicine and Family Practice. For many years, I was an active member of the quality assurance committee. Circumstances permitted my wife, Dorlis, and me to retire in October 1995. Before fate could intervene, we tossed off the dock lines, and sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge for a life at sea in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Four years later, exhausted from repairing everything on board, (often many times) we sold the sailboat and within a year took the lazy man’s out; we bought a Nordic Tug trawler. We motored around Florida, the Bahamas, and the entire East Coast and completed two ‘circle trips’ to Canada and back, eight months, the first time, five months, the second. I’ve written eight novels, five in he Brier Hospital Series, and one non-fiction book, I Love My Doctor, But…, a lighthearted look at the patient/doctor relationship. I recently published my ninth novel, A Simple Cure, about the search for the cure of the most deadly skin cancer, malignant melanoma. I write primarily to entertain, but I can’t help but pass on to readers observations and beliefs culled from years of practice, and yes, my biases, too. I strive for realism in portraying the medical scene which is gripping enough without melodrama or gimmicks. With even a minor degree of success in writing novels, comes responsibility to readers. I attempt to produce honest material that reflects my beliefs. Exposing these beliefs to the public through my writing requires courage, stupidity, or both. My fans have been generous, and although nobody enjoys criticism, I’ve learned much from that, too. The novel that expresses most clearly my candor, and my bias, is For the Love of God. The novel reflects my attitudes toward those who are willing to sacrifice the lives of their children for their personal religious beliefs.

We live in beautiful Grass Valley with 15 1/2 year old Mike, a terrier mix and Bennie, an 8 year old Yorkie who just looks like he’s on steroids.

Author's Website
Dr. Gold's Fiction and Medical News (this is very interesting)
Facebook
Twitter-still under construction!
Goodreads

I received an ebook in order to do this review. All opinions expressed are my own honest opinions. For more information please check my Disclosure Statement. Our giveaways are in no way sponsored or promoted by Facebook.