A half-century after the dawn of the atomic age, the Freedom of Information Act forces the United States government to release the actual records of the Congressional Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments. FLASHBLIND exposes the truth behind the final Manhattan Project secret that would change the world forever. Jake Holden, a leading-edge geneticist, returns to the Los Alamos Human Genome Project when his brother, who has Xeroderma Pigmentosa, a rare genetic DNA disorder, is diagnosed with terminal cancer. His only hope is to sequence and repair the gene in the Los Alamos National lab, the site of their father's fatal radiation accident and his nightmares. Iran, Iraq, and growing terrorist threats put new life into a cold war doomsday plan to give the government more options than just "duck and cover." Doctor William Ramsdale, a fossil left over from the days of the Manhattan Project, gets the go ahead to continue his unethical program of human radiation experiments to find a way to protect our DNA from radiation poisoning. Patients, including pregnant women, prisoners and retarded children, were used without their knowledge or consent, because "they are cheaper than chimpanzees." With the help of the Los Alamos Lab's beautiful Navajo personnel director, Jake uncovers the clandestine relationship between the Department of Energy and the Human Genome project, a discovery that destroys his career and threatens his life. His dream of saving his brother depends on uncovering the secrets of the past while struggling in the mire of a modern day big pharma and government conspiracy. To cure his brother, Jake must possess the Holy Grail of modern science--the ability to rewrite human DNA--and stop Ramsdale from taking everyone down a path of madness. Is it a coincidence or conspiracy that the two most significant scientific races of our time--namely the development of the atomic bomb and the sequencing of the genetic code--took place in the U.S. Department of Energy laboratories in Los Alamos, New Mexico? The author, Paul Bernstein, MD, has treated patients who were intentionally exposed by the government to atomic bomb radiation, and subsequently developed malignant cancers. He understands their suffering and has dedicated this book to them. Dr. Bernstein, a Head and Neck Surgeon, is the Medical Director of the largest medical group in California, the former Chairman of the American Cancer Society's Head and Neck Division, and has appeared as a medical expert on radio and television.
Although it is 10 p.m., and Paul Bernstein, M.D., has spent four hours in surgery at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in San Diego, his evening is not over. Bernstein will go home, sit down at his computer, and spend the next two hours working on his latest novel. This is just a glimpse of the energy and dedication this graduate of UCSD School of Medicine pours into his twin passions: providing the best possible care for his patients as Kaiser's San Diego Medical Director, and sharing great stories through his fiction. These passions came together last fall when Bernstein published Courage to Heal, a historical novel telling the true story of Dr. Sidney Garfield, who along with industrialist Henry Kaiser, who created the first health maintenance organization and forever changed American medicine. Bernstein's love of history-he's the founder of the Kaiser Permanente Historical Society-also fueled his desire to tell Garfield's story. In fact, Bernstein was actually a history major when he attended UCLA, but eventually chose a medical career after being accepted by UCSD. "I was in the medical school's second graduating class, and it was an exciting time to be at UCSD," Bernstein recalls. "They had just brought in all these world renowned scientific and medical experts to start the school and our class was so small, we got to interact with them on a one-on-one basis. Bernstein began writing fiction a decade ago. After years of taking classes, joining writers' groups and spending countless hours at his craft, Bernstein's "Courage to Heal" was published to strong reviews and several awards. His latest novel, Flashblind, has won awards in the New York, Southern California, and San Francisco book festivals. ForeWord Magazine reviewed it as "a first rate medical thriller that has it all: action, intrigue, suspense, and even a bit of romance. Solid characterization, believable dialogue, and a healthy dose of realism drive this medical drama."
