"I am absolutely sure that I had never done an appendectomy before last week. I'd never seen one performed or even read about the procedure. I just knew what to do."
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Second Nature by Don Thompson Trafford Publishing
book review by J.A. Garcia
Allison Walker knows things. She can navigate her forty-one foot American Tug through channels and bays seemingly with her eyes closed. As a result of her specialized nautical knowledge, Walker also runs a small but thriving yacht brokerage. She can also diagnose acute appendicitis, not to mention perform an emergency appendectomy. The knowledge she has about boats and medicine is knowledge she has always held—it is the knowledge of the Teachers, who exist only in her mind. Only now, as a thirty-year-old woman, is she beginning to understand that knowledge, but where it comes from and why she has it are questions that plague her.
In her search for answers, Allison must learn to confront her childhood fears and trust those around her. But once she is misdiagnosed with dissociative personality disorder and forced into a mandatory medical trial, she must rely on her own instincts and risk everything to expose the secrets of The Carver Research Institute, where "power, fear, and greed" reign.
Thompson's narrative not only provides well-timed and suspenseful plot twists and turns, it also manages to weave in genetics, psychology, and seafaring alongside often complicated and compelling characters. Thompson's keen ear for dialog yields lively scenes, which help push the well-paced narrative forward, giving readers palatable doses of scientific knowledge together with a story sure to keep them captivated.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review