A Slow Burning [Paperback]

Stanley Pottinger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 10, 2001

A street-smart NYPD detective and a pioneering brain surgeon are flung together by a madman's act of violence...Ingenious. (Time)

A new generation of cutting-edge thriller. (Entertainment Weekly)

A chilling medical thriller. (Vanity Fair)

[A] kaleidoscopic thriller... charged with emotional impact and resounding ethical questions. (Publishers Weekly)-starred review)

Part medical thriller, part urban drama, part police procedural...Don't expect to put this one down. (New York Post)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Nat Hennessey, a New York cop, is about to marry Camilla Bissonette when the past catches up with both of them in this complicated thriller by the author of The Fourth Procedure. Nat's father was beaten to death by a black man who never paid for his crime. He believes he has no racial bias against African-Americans, but Cush Walker, a brilliant black scientist who's convinced he's found the neurobiological basis of racism in the human brain, thinks otherwise. Walker has his own haunted past; his father was lynched by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi in the 60s. Now Walker proposes to scan the brains of the NYPD for racial bias, a prospect that alarms Nat and his colleagues. But that's not the only reason for Nat's antipathy toward the scientist; Walker and Camilla were once lovers, and the reason she broke off their affair is somehow related to his experimental procedure. But just as she's about to tell Nat about Cush--and reveal an even murkier secret about the circumstances of her own birth--she's shot by the criminal who killed Nat's father. In laboratory and operating room scenes that will appeal to fans of Robin Cook and Michael Crichton, Cush tries to bring Camilla out of her coma with a risky, potentially fatal, and untested procedure that puts Nat's life in peril too. Slow Burning isn't an easy read, but it's a fascinating one that attempts to combine cutting-edge neuroscience with an explanation for the deep-seated racism that Pottinger believes bedevils everyone. Scientific explanations slow down the pace, and occasionally the characters seem like talking heads instead of complete and complex individuals, but it's the implications of Pottinger's thesis that will disturb the reader and resonate in the mind after the last page is turned. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Ending a five-year hiatus after his bestselling debut (The Fourth Procedure), Pottinger proves he is a master of the art of the medical thriller and a formidable voice in examining American race relations. Here, he examines racial tensions in a plot that includes a vast web of biotechnical dangers and political corruption. New York police detective Nat Hennessy is coerced by his boss to exploit the trust of his fianc?e, architectural restorer Camilla Dissonette, the beautiful granddaughter of an aristocratic New Orleans family. It's part of a conspiracy to discredit Dr. Cush Walker, a brilliant and controversial African-American neurosurgeon short-listed for a Nobel in medicine. Walker, who also happens to be Dissonette's ex-boyfriend, invented a breakthrough brain-scanning technique for detecting the predisposition for racial bias. This advanced polygraph-type analysis, called the BIAS test, threatens the careers of many cops, including Hennessy. Other effects of Walker's work involve the development of technology to restore damaged brains and transplant personalities, used in the hopes of eradicating the legacy of racial bigotry. Peopled with quixotic characters who enrich the mosaic of revenge, murder and intrigue, the action bounces around like machine-gun fire in a dark alley, while Pottinger makes pseudo-technobabble somehow sound simple. Though one must forgive the occasional clich?d lapse in the romantic scenes and minor side trips to smell the roses (and garbage), this kaleidoscopic thriller is marvelously complex, charged with emotional impact and resounding ethical questions. (Feb.) FYI: Pottinger served in civil rights positions in both the Department of Justice and the former Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: Signet (July 10, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451202120
• ISBN-13: 978-0451202123
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,194,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Actually Three And A Half Stars, I Rounded Up., March 1, 2000

By 

taking a rest - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: A Slow Burning (Hardcover)

One third of the way through this story, and I was ready to trash this book. The reasons numbered 2, firstly, the violent murders mentioned on the book jacket would make Hannibal Lechter flinch, and young children witnessed them both. Secondly, as mentioned on the jacket they were race-based.

Unless an Author truly has a new idea or view on race/racism, making it a centerpiece for a book is too easy, too cliché, and has been done more times than I can remember. This Author clearly can write and tell a great story. By bringing to the book one of the lowest common denominators of what is wretched in our Society, he introduced an issue that I don't think was necessary. Further, the Author brought nothing new to the discussion. Adding young children was tabloid sensationalism, every location, slur, and behavior is beyond cliché. It's like being tied down and listening to music you hate, repeated incessantly.

The High-Tech Medical aspect was good. The field that is discussed and plays a key role in the book is real, it's being developed today, and it's not Star Trek material. But again the same issue mentioned above gets center stage, even with the techno-wizardly medicine, and it detracts from the story.

Trying to pull all the different threads of this story together, and then trying to make societal commentary out of it, was a huge task, and it did not work for me.

The book is a well done at times, entertaining at times, and frustrating because of how good it really could have been. I will buy his next book. That may sound contradictory, but it really is an indication that I believe this Author could really spin some great tales.

You will love it, or like it, you won't hate it.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars REALLLLLY DESERVES 10 STARS!, March 2, 2000

By 

"gsf918" - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Slow Burning (Hardcover)

This phenomenal, intelligent thriller truly has something for everyone! There's love and romance mixed in with mystery, suspense, exceedingly graphic violence tossed in with a bit of time travel and even nano-technology! Pottinger is a brilliant writer who really needs to quit his day job so he can devote full time to his rare talent. I just hope that we don't have to wait another 5 years for his 3rd book to appear. When you start reading this amazing book, be prepared to forget about the rest of the world because it completely grabs you with the very first page and doesn't let you go until the shocking and most satifying conclusion! You'll not be disappointed in this book which is destined for the bestseller list immediately upon publication....hopefully! Enjoy!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating...mind stirring...a new wave of technology, July 26, 2003

By 

"top_recruiter" (Willow Grove, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Slow Burning (Hardcover)

First of all, I have NO time in my busy schedule to read a fortune cookie, let alone a 478 page fiction novel...However, this was one book I could NOT put down!

Mr. Pottinger does what I love best - he introduces you to each major character in a very special, intimate way, and sets the stage for how this plot eventually ties itself together. And in the end, you nod your head, and finally "get it". It's a combination of detective work, medical advances and a passionate love triangle that will surprise you in the end.

It's a very well researched, well written book, and one i will most DEFINITELY keep on my bookshelf for years to come.