Could I Have This Dance? (Claire McCall Series #1) [Paperback]

Harry Kraus (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2002

You can't dance this dance unless it's in your blood. Claire McCall is praying it's not in hers. Claire McCall is used to fighting back against the odds. Hard work, aptitude, and sheer determination have helped her rise from adverse circumstances to an internship in one of the nation's most competitive surgical residencies. But talent and tenacity mean nothing in the face of the discovery that is about to rock her world. It's called the 'Stoney Creek Curse' by folks in the small mountain town where Claire grew up. Behind the superstition lies a reality that could destroy her career. But getting to the truth is far from easy in a community with secrets to hide. As a web of relationships becomes increasingly tangled, two things become apparent. One is that more than one person doesn't want Claire to probe too deeply into the 'Stoney Creek Curse.' The other is that someone has reasons other than the curse for wanting Claire out of the picture permanently. Somewhere in the course of pursuing her career as a surgeon, Claire lost touch with the God who called her to it. Now she realizes how desperately she needs him. But can she reclaim a faith strong enough to see her through this deadly dance of circumstances?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Dr. Claire McCall is on a mission to discover the truth behind the Stoney Creek curse in Kraus's sixth book, a well-written medical thriller with romantic and inspirational overtones. Claire puts the backwards town of Stoney Creek, Va., and her "cursed" alcoholic father, Wally, behind her as she begins a grueling medical internship at Lafayette University Hospital near Boston. Yet as her father exhibits classic signs of Huntington's disease (or "the dance" in medical slang, from which the title is gleaned), Claire wonders whether the legendary curse might be due to genetics, rather than superstition or alcoholism. Fearing for her future, she turns up information that leads to puzzlement over her and her twin brother Clay's paternity. As her world crashes around her, Claire becomes confused about her faith and ponders how a loving God could orchestrate her disastrous circumstances. Claire is fallible and multidimensional, and the narrative palatably combines suspense, medical instruction, romance, humor and faith. However, like many recent CBA novels, this one is too long, and a little judicious editing might have smoothed the pacing in spots. Reader credibility will also be stretched when Claire shares a great deal of personal information with hunky intern Brett Daniels, or a little too conveniently keeps stumbling over her undergraduate genetics project, which holds clues to her present dilemma. However, Kraus's experience as a general surgeon lends authenticity to his medical descriptions, and the curveball conclusion makes the long read worthwhile.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Kraus (Lethal Mercy) draws on his extensive medical knowledge in his sixth novel. As Dr. Claire McCall enters the toughest residency program for surgeons in the country, her world begins to fall apart. Attracted to another resident just as her feelings for her fianc have turned ambivalent because she believes he pressured her into intimacy before marriage, Claire has also lost her closeness with God. To top things off, a patient admitted to the emergency room exhibits the same symptoms that Claire's father has had for years. The people in her hometown of Stoney Creek, VA, called it "The Curse" and attributed it to alcoholism. But this patient is diagnosed with Huntington's disease. As Claire tries to determine whether her father has Huntington's and whether she, in turn, has it, someone else has other reasons to shut Claire up permanently. A solid, intense thriller heavy on medical terminology, this is for fans of William Cutrer and Sandra Glahn's Deadly Cure.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (March 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310240891
• ISBN-13: 978-0310240891
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #900,456 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book, April 26, 2002

By 

Carmen Leal (Kailua, HI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Could I Have This Dance? (Claire McCall Series #1) (Paperback)

This is the best fiction plot involving Huntington's Disease I have ever read. Dr. Kraus did an excellent job with his research to be able to include so many issues that invariably arise when dealing with this neurological disease. His portrayal of the young intern, Claire, struggling with being at-risk for a genetic disease, was dead on. He captured many issues that one has to consider when deciding to have genetic testing. Issues such as discrimination, insurance, having kids, future job performance, her relationship with her fiance, and many more are covered in Could I Have This Dance? His descriptions of the physical and mental symptoms of Huntington's Disease were excellent.

I enjoyed the plot and found myself thinking of people I know who need to read the book. As the author of two non-fiction books about Huntington's Disease and a frequent speaker and HD conferences, I was impressed with the details and how well he wove them into the plot. I was a full time caregiver for husband with HD and the founder and facilitator for HDCaregivers, an online support group for those who caregive loved ones with Huntington's Disease. Because of my continued writing and speaking to HD groups I am often asked to endorse books that have some connection to Huntington's Disease. I usually find major flaws or omissions in these books and am reluctant to endorse them. I was pleasantly surprised to be able to read and enjoy Could I Have This Dance? and to be able to give it a five star rating.

For too many years Christian fiction was boring, badly written or didn't ring with authenticity. What a delight to find that in recent years Christian fiction has changed for the better. Dr. Kraus did an excellent job of weaving faith issues into the plot without being preachy or heavy handed. So often it is when a crisis arises that one begins to question God and why bad things happen to good people. Even non Christians should be able to read this book without flinching because Could I Have This Dance? shows a young woman struggling with sin and with her relationship with God, just like we all do.

The plot moves at a nice pace and has enough tension and twists to satisfy any reader.

Thank you, Dr. Kraus for creating an excellent book that I am excited to share with the thousands of families suffering with Huntington's. I also hope millions who have never heard of HD will read this book because it is an honest, well written look at the issues surrounding Huntington's Disease. It is also a honest look at how flawed human beings and how much we need a sovereign God.

Carmen Leal, Author of Faces of Huntington's and Portraits of Huntington's, Choosing Joy Through Life Lessons

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The full story is told in two novels - not just one., August 26, 2006

By 

K. L. Johnson "Mom, homemaker, RN & avid reader" (Martinsburg, WV United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Could I Have This Dance? (Claire McCall Series #1) (Paperback)

Could I Have This Dance? is an interesting book about one woman's willingness to look past childhood hurts to find an answer to a medical mystery. But the full story arc, which takes shape in this book, only reaches resolution in the follow-up novel, For The Rest Of My Life.

Why is that important to note? Because the full answers don't come until the second book. You'll finish reading this one and still have questions that can only be answered by the next book. Neat marketing trick, sure, but very frustrating to readers.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Do A Little Dance, March 3, 2006

By 

Tamara Shoemaker (Harrisonburg, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Could I Have This Dance? (Claire McCall Series #1) (Paperback)

Could I Have This Dance? focuses on one woman's struggle between her past and her future, her heart and her head, and her Christian walk and the distractions of medical life. The story weaves Claire McCall's demanding hospital experience together with her small-town slower-paced upbringing, and illustrates clearly the turmoil she undergoes in her relationship with her family, her denial and then acceptance of Huntington's disease, and her ambivalent feelings toward two young men in her life.

The story is a fast-paced medical thriller, detailing interesting particulars about hospital procedures and rare diseases. However, the tale behind the medical scene deals with Claire's spiritual struggles, her character development from the purpose-driven M.D. who despises her father to a fuller woman with a developing love for both her earthly father and her Heavenly one. This maturity of Claire's nature makes it easy for the reader to identify more closely with the story as a whole.

However, certain sections of the book must work harder to fall into the story's rhythm, and consequently stand out as being unnecessary, or necessary, but in need of more development. When Claire first meets Brett Daniels at the beach, the story changes from an involved tale of Claire's struggle to remain in the competitive medical pyramid to a scene from a chick-lit novel - beautiful toned and tan female meets hard-muscled blonde life-guard type and a long time of commitment to her fiance flies out the window after one meeting with another man who carries on a normal conversation with her.

In spite of these scenes, though, the book does well, and the story remains well worth the read.