Publisher's Synopsis
A Thin Place chronicles a compelling seventy-year journey beginning when a brilliant young chemist uses a grant from the largest drug company in the United States to research and develop a preservative for multi-dose vaccines. Proposing that his preservative formula would help stem epidemics by stockpiling vaccines in advance, he sells the formula to the highest bidder and uses the money to finance medical school. Years later, the former chemist retires as a medical doctor from his job as Chief of Staff of the Mayo clinic. Internationally acclaimed, the doctor remains haunted by the loss of his only son to autism nearly fifty years earlier, a death he feels could have been prevented. Convinced the vaccine preservative he created in 1927 could be the catalyst behind unprecedented increases in autism rates within the country, the doctor comes out of retirement and shares his theory with a former U.S. Congressman who has an autistic grandson, propelling the two men into an unpredictable contract with a mutual goal... convince those in power to research the source of the problem, not just treat the epidemic. Now allies, Samuel L. Crockett attempts uses his inside political influence to help Dr. Jeremiah Trent convince the Center for Disease Control that their suspicions accurate and the government's accelerated vaccine program is endangering the country's children. They quickly find that their paths through the hallways of governmental agencies are mysteriously closed, laden with unfamiliar hostilities and hidden agendas. Their eventual discovery of an incriminating internal drug company memo supporting their theory leads to Trent's assassination but the tragedy backfires on the perpetrators when it fuels Crockett's resolve to continue. Crockett continues to find barriers at every turn, inexplicably blocking, destroying, or altering public information files. Trent's assassination still unsolved, his death precipitates yet another alliance, this time between Crockett and his daughter, a retired attorney and the mother of his autistic grandson. Together, they are relentless in promoting their belief that every day the genesis of autism eludes discovery, even more of the world's children are in jeopardy. A groundswell of parental support is fueled by the heartwarming story of a young girl, a prodigious savant with da Vinci-like skills, who helps provide a ray of hope for all those crossing the seemingly perpetual sea of heartbreak toward the elusive bridge of justice. When a monumental decision by the Federal Vaccine Court validates Trent's theories, the years of struggle and heartbreak begin paying hard-earned dividend when facts finally force the opposition to accept reality and prove Dr. Jeremiah Trent right. The market.....According to published CDC reports, the incidence of newborns in the United States that will be diagnosed with autism within in the first two years of life is 1 in 92, a horrific increase from thirty years earlier when the ratio was just 2 for every 10,000 births. Over forty million people in the United States either have a family member, a relative, or a friend suffering from some degree of autism. Add friends and family to that equation makes the potential number for potential sales skyrockets. Historically accurate in every way, A Thin Place clarifies through fictional characters the real challenges facing autistic families without reading like a textbook. Readers are entertained by a gripping story describing the struggles and successes of two different autistic families, each, in their own way, fighting the same battles but in totally different arenas. A Thin Place is the first novel that quietly and methodically addresses the issues that, directly or indirectly, confront nearly twenty percent of the world's population.