Misconception (Hardcover)

Dr. Daniel Wyatt of Louisiana has become a national hero as a result of an incident involving a locally prominent business man, Roger Eastermeadow. Roger gets a serious gunshot wound by the bad luck of being in the wrong place during a convenience store robbery. Fleeing the scene he is near death and collapses outside a restaurant where Dr. Wyatt and his wife are leaving after dinner. Wyatt instantly sizes up the situation and performs a simple but urgent surgical procedure with a steak knife, saving Roger's life in the presence of TV cameras and a large crowd. The story is soon broadcast nationally on CNN and other national media. Dr. Wyatt is instantly famous, and he and his wife become frquent guests on TV talk shows as expert, charming, talking heads.

It is now ten years later, and Dr. Wyatt has the inside track for nomination as the new Surgeon General, with every expectation of being quickly confirmed by the Senate; however, there is one worrisome potential complication. The good Dr. has had a one night stand with one of his patients, Sarah Corbett, and we discover that she is now pregnant. If it comes to light it will certainly scuttle his chances to be the Surgeon General.

Wyatt discusses his dilemma with Clair Davis, a pro-choice activist, and she strongly urges him to get Sarah to end the pregnancy with an abortion. Dr. Wyatt has discussed that possibility with Sarah, and she is unwilling. But Clair provides Wyatt with the French abortion pill, RU-486, and urges him to give it to Sarah.

Soon Sarah has a miscarriage with bloody complications---but she survives. The District Attorney figures out what happened, and uses Sarah's story to indict Wyatt for murdering a fetus against the will of the mother. The trial gains national attention with both pro-choice and pro-life activists keenly concerned about the implications of the trial for abortion law.

Meanwhile, Father Peter O'Keefe has been doing all he can to stem the tide of abortions by assassinating abortion doctors. He becomes interested in the case of Dr. Wyatt, and forms a plan to kill him if he is acquitted of murdering Sarah's unborn child.

The story line is taut and entertaining, and once started it's hard to put it down! Dr. Wyatt is a completely decent person, while the other characters are each somewhat extreme in their views and actions. But all are completely believable. The anti-abortion serial killer, Father O'Keefe, conveys the warped mentality of the extreme anti-abortion fringe. It all plays out in a satisfying way, without taking sides or being preachy about either side of the abortion issue.

The action and the pace are intense, and the plot and characters give us insight into one of the most complex, emotional, and divisive issues in the nation today. I highly recommend it, and I'll be very surprised if it doesn't soon become a hit movie!