Compton’s debut historical fiction puts a bizarre twist on real events from the 1960s. Skilled surgeon Dr. Wiley McCoy accidentally kills his ex-girlfriend on the operating table when his hand slips, ending his career. But he can’t shake the feeling that something about the accident wasn’t right, which is soon confirmed when he’s called to the home of one of his famous patients, Howard Hughes. Desperate to end his constant pain from a plane accident, Hughes gets entangled with Romulo DaVinci, who practices voodoo and promises him immortality, along with the capture of a United States submarine, the Thresher. Trusting only McCoy’s medical opinion, Hughes forces McCoy to join DaVinci and his unusual crew on the Thresher to assist in their experiments and report their actions back to Hughes.

During their time on the Thresher, Hughes, DaVinci, and his cohorts—along with an unwitting McCoy—impact significant events of mid-century history, as Compton transforms what could sound like an outlandish storyline into a coherent, believable plot. Not only are the characters in the right place at the right time, but their motivations and beliefs give them credible reasons for the choices they end up making—including choices that will shake the world. Compton digs into the intricate and realistic details of his characters’ actions, and readers will be intrigued by the events after one historical shock, when an American martyr becomes their biggest experiment.

Compton’s skillfully weaves the era’s medical knowledge with hints of magic, and readers may find themselves reveling in–maybe even giving credence to–the story’s daring revision of the past, right up to the existence of a flower that can bring the dead back, or surgery that attaches a human head to another body. Fans of alternate histories touched with the uncanny will be entertained by Compton’s “what-ifs,” and may wonder how to tease reality from fiction in this action-packed affair.

Takeaway: Medicine and magic unite in this vivid alternate-history thriller that reshapes the 1960s.

Great for fans of: Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle, Jeff Greenfield’s Then Everything Changed.

Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: B
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: C