Have you heard? Historical Fiction author, Andrew Lam, is giving away a paperback copy of his fabulous book — Repentance @Andrew_LamMD @hfvbt

Repentance

By Andrew Lam

France, October 1944.

A Japanese American war hero has a secret.

A secret so awful he’d rather die than tell anyone–one so entwined with the brave act that made him a hero that he’s determined never to speak of the war. Ever.

Decades later his son, Daniel Tokunaga, a world-famous cardiac surgeon, is perplexed when the U.S. government comes calling, wanting to know about his father’s service with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during WWII. Something terrible happened while his father was fighting the Germans in France, and the Department of Defense won’t stop its investigation until it’s determined exactly who did what.

Wanting answers of his own, Daniel upends his life to find out what his father did on a small, obscure hilltop half a world away. As his quest for the truth unravels his family’s catastrophic past, the only thing for certain is that nothing–his life, career, and family–can ever be the same again.

“Suspenseful, touching, and beautifully written.”

Margaret George, New York Times best-selling author of Elizabeth I and Helen of Troy

“A gorgeous, emotional book. A story of honor and sacrifice. An important, and timely, American story.”

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Karin Tanabe, author of The Diplomat’s Daughter and The Gilded Years.

Excerpt

“Chest full of blood,” Daniel muttered. “Rib spreader.”

Niraj handed him a large metal retractor, shaped like a C-clamp. Daniel placed the blades between the ribs and turned the crank to draw them apart.

“Suction.”

Niraj placed a plastic handpiece into the chest cavity. As the space between the ribs widened, Daniel pushed the collapsed left lung aside to expose the pericardium.

It was bulging, tense, and dark.

“Scissors.”

Sam Griffin stared, wide-eyed.

“It’s tamponade,” Daniel explained. He cut a small hole in the pericardium. There was a gush of blood.

Daniel felt the heart pulsing beneath his hand. On the monitor, the EKG line jumped jaggedly.

“More suction.” He enlarged the opening in the pericardium and began to inspect the heart. Blood flowed more briskly now.

Where was it coming from?

He used his fingers to gently feel the front and back of the heart. Then—he saw it and felt it at the same time.

There was a small hole at the edge of the right ventricle.

Was part of the bullet inside the heart or had it passed all the way through? Daniel stuck his finger through the hole and felt inside the pulsing chamber.

Nothing.

He gently lifted the heart and turned it slightly.

“More suction.”

No exit wound in the back.

He returned the heart to its normal position. It was a tangential wound. The bullet had grazed the heart then gone out the patient’s back.

“We’ve got to plug this hole to stop the bleeding.”

“Can you suture it?” Griffin asked, incredulous.

Daniel ignored him. “Get a foley.”

“What?” the nurse said.

“A foley, dammit! You know, foley catheter—you stick it in so people can pee. Hurry up.”

She ran into the hall and returned moments later with a thin rubber tube. The foley catheter had a double lumen—when inflated, the outer space at the tip of the catheter became a small balloon that normally kept the tube inside a patient’s bladder and prevented it from sliding out.

Daniel threaded the catheter through the hole in the heart. “Inflate it,” he said. Niraj gently depressed the plunger of a small syringe to fill the balloon inside the heart with saline. Through the heart wall, Daniel felt the tip of the tubing inflate.

“Stop.”

Now the small balloon in the right ventricle was the size of a marble. Blood flow inside the heart pushed the balloon against the hole, plugging it.

Daniel watched the monitor. The EKG line jerked up and down irregularly.

“Ventricular fibrillation. Give me the internal paddles and charge to 20 joules.”

A nurse handed him two small metal paddles, which Daniel placed on the front and back of the heart.

“Clear.” Daniel shocked the heart, which froze momentarily, then began to beat regularly.

The EKG returned to normal sinus rhythm.

“There’s a pulse!” the nurse called out. The next blood pressure reading came on the screen: 90/45. Better.

A little cheer went up among the others in the room.

Daniel looked at Niraj. “We’ve bought him some time. Keep a close eye on the foley. If you need to, just keep a little tension on it like this,” Daniel demonstrated, “to make sure the balloon stays against the hole. Continue wide open fluids. Start transfusing; as soon as the first unit is hung I want the second unit spiked and ready to infuse. And get him up to the OR. I’ll see you there in fifteen minutes.”

“You got it,” Niraj said, awestruck. His boss had just brought a kid back from the dead.

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Giveaway

During the Blog Tour, we will be giving away a paperback copy of Repentance by Andrew Lam! You can enter HERE!

Giveaway Rules

• Giveaway ends at 11:59 pm EST on May 31st. You must be 18 or older to enter.
• Giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY.
• Only one entry per household.
• All giveaway entrants agree to be honest and not cheat the systems; any suspicion of fraud is decided upon by blog/site owner and the sponsor, and entrants may be disqualified at our discretion.
• The winner has 48 hours to claim prize or new winner is chosen.

Pick up your copy of Repentance

AMAZON • BARNES AND NOBLE • INDIEBOUND

Andrew Lam

Andrew Lam, M.D., is the award-winning author of Repentance, Two Sons of China, and Saving Sight. His writing has appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Born in Philadelphia and raised in central Illinois, he graduated summa cum laude in history from Yale University, where he studied military history and U.S.-East Asian relations. He then attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by specialty training to become a retinal surgeon. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and resides in western Massachusetts with his wife and four children.

His newest book is Repentance, a historical novel and riveting family drama entwined with the history of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a group of Japanese American soldiers who fought valiantly in Europe during WWII while many of their families were incarcerated in camps like Manzanar at home. The 442nd became the most decorated unit in U.S. military history.

Learn more at Andrew Lam’s website. You can also follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

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