Author Bio:
I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, but I’ve done
most of my medical training at the University of Michigan, including medical
school and my neurology residency.
However, I did my internship at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical
Center in Greenwich Village which, along with Kiev, Ukraine, is the setting for
my book. For the past 30 years, I have
been practicing neurology in Chesapeake, Virginia. I live in Virginia Beach with my wife and
best friend, Judy, and together we’ve raised two terrific boys, Jon and Nick. I
love to travel, read, and enjoy cooking and eating all sorts of food.
Title: Brain Warp: A Medical Thriller
Author: Gil Snider
ISBN: 978-1-58348-472-2 (trade paperback);
978-0-595-88074-4 (hardcover)
Page count: 267 pp
Genre: Medical Thriller
Price: $17.95 paperback; $27.95 hardcover; $6.00
Kindle
Tell us about your book:
Brain Warp is a medical thriller, but I mixed in elements of
a political thriller as well.
Neurologist Dr. Peter Branstead and his psychologist girlfriend, Megan
Hutchins, inadvertently become involved in a plot to poison the President of
Ukraine when Peter stumbles onto a secret research facility in Greenwich
Village that is testing out the poison on local vagrants. His investigations into the nature of the
facility and the drug itself leads Peter on a secret mission to Kiev, where he
must save the President and escape from the clutches of the Russian Mafia,
while being hunted by a brutal Mafia hit man intent on killing him.
How long did it take to write the book?
I researched my book for four months, setting up a chapter
summary, then took eight months to write the first draft. However, I spent a year or two doing
rewrites.
What inspired you to write the book?
Writing Brain Warp was something of a personal journey for
me. My father was from Ukraine, and
although the choice of Ukraine as a setting for the book was plot-driven, it
serendipitously gave me the opportunity to learn about my background. I think that because of this, I made fathers
play an important part in Brain Warp.
Almost every major character was impacted by the actions, or absence, of
their father.
Talk about the writing process. Did you have a writing
routine? Did you do any research, and if so, what did that involve?
Most of my research involved learning about the history,
geography and culture of Ukraine, as well as the layout of Kiev. Although I lived in New York City for many
years, and in Greenwich Village for three years, writing about it as a literary
setting required viewing it in a different perspective.
As a physician and, in particular, a neurologist writing the
medical part was easy. The hard part was
taking complex medical terminology and science and writing in a way that the average
reader would understand it, but that a medical professional wouldn’t find
overly simplified and trite.
I also found it difficult finding the time to write, with my
professional obligations and to still be available to my family, especially my
two young boys. This usually involved
writing after the kid’s bedtime, or sitting at my laptop after I had driven
them to various activities.
What do you hope your readers come away with after
reading your book?
A sense of edge-of-your-chair excitement, and a feeling of
intimacy with the main characters. I
tried to make them as multi-dimensional as possible. Every character had a history that molded him
or her into the person they had become.
Wrap your brain
around this thriller.
Peter
Branstead, the intelligent neurology doctor at Saint Mark’s hospital, has
stumbled into a medical mystery never before seen in the medical profession. Vagrants
from the local area have flooded into the emergency room of Saint Mark’s. All
of them with the same symptoms and all of them end with the same result –
death. But what is causing these symptoms and why can’t the doctors save these
patients?
As
Peter investigate this mystery he discovers that everything is not as it seems.
In fact it goes well beyond the simple virus or outbreak. Each patient did not
simply die, they were murdered. Why? Little does Peter know but the closer he
gets to the answer the closer he gets to extreme danger. There are people in
the world who would do anything for power and Peter is about to meet them. “Brain
Warp” is a medical mystery that travels across the globe and back again.
The
deeper Peter digs the higher the stakes get. The individuals behind this
horrible plan know of Peter, his fiancé and their investigation. To stop their
snooping they have called upon the Scorpion, the most ruthless individual known
to the Ukrainian underworld. The mafia themselves fear this individual. What
they don’t know is Peter has friends…but is it enough to stop these people and
avoid the Scorpion?
From the first word, Gil Snider delivers a
fast pace, mystery thriller that will keep you guessing and on the edge of your
seat from the first page to the last. With each passing page, it is virtually
impossible not to encourage Peter to keep digging but be careful and solve this
crime. The more you read the more you feel the tension building as all the
characters you care about find themselves in peril.
The strength of “Brain Warp”
lies in the story structure, crisp plot and believability. With medical
terminology to support the plot it lends to the credibility of the story which
adds depth in a real world scenario. The characters capture your attention
quickly and never let go until the end. Author Gil Snider’s novel is a true
medical mystery and thriller in every sense of the word. Think House but in the
form of a book. I highly recommend “Brain Warp” for anyone who enjoys edge of
your seat suspense, intrigue, crime and mystery.
Where can we go to buy your book?
IUniverse.com; Amazon.com
Any other links or info you'd like to share?
www.brainwarp.net
