by Lawrence Martin, M.D.
A young woman is lost on a scuba dive in Grand Cayman. Did she suffer nitrogen narcosis? Or did she commit suicide? Experts argue both scenarios in a civil trial that takes place 14 months later. Her parents are the plaintiffs. The defendants are a large corporation and its dive master on that fateful day. There are several experts called to testify, including the author. The two lawyers object to each other’s arguments, cite precedent, drill their experts. Yet one thing is missing: her body. It will never be recovered.
The Wall is fiction, but reads like a real case. Put yourself in the jury box, listen to the experts and lawyers battle it out, then make your own decision. How will you decide? For the plaintiffs or the defense?
4.5 Stars on Amazon. A few reviews:
“Entertaining and informative, a quick read. Scuba diving and law wrapped up in suspense. Recommended trial thriller with unique ending. Author keeps reader deliberating from the first page.”
“Terrific imagining of what a wrongful death trial in scuba would look like. I’ve never read anything like it and would definitely read another book by this author.”
“Trials are interesting. Diving is interesting. Here the author puts the two together to weave a tale that will interest all. Raising challenging questions about the litigation that seems to have surrounded diving in recent years, this is definitely worth a read.”
I began writing early in my medical career in Cleveland, starting with a book about pulmonary medicine (my specialty) for the lay public. Over the years I wrote several more medical-themed books, some for physicians and others for the general public. I did not tackle fiction until 2011, with a novel about Civil War Savannah. Since then I have self-published several other fictional works, plus two books for children.
I learned quickly that fiction is a whole different craft than non-fiction. In my non-fiction books I never had to worry about “point of view,” dialogue or character development.
The Boy Who Dreamed Mount Everest won 2nd place in the 2016 Florida Writers’ Association Royal Palm Awards category of Middle Grade Fiction (Unpublished). Liberty Street: A Novel of Late Civil War Savannah won 2nd place in the 2018 RPLA competition for published historical fiction. Several short stories have also won RPLA awards.
A list of my books, medical and non-medical, can be found at www.lakesidepress.com/books.html. My 3 Civil War novels are described and compared at www.lakesidepress.com/CivilWarNovels.html.
Writing is my main retirement interest but I have another: music. I never played an instrument and decided retirement is the time to learn, starting with the ukulele. This is the go-to instrument for many retirees because it is relatively simple (compared to the guitar) and, especially in The Villages, there are many opportunities to play with others. As a way to learn basic music theory for the uke, I started writing myself explanations. One thing led to another, and I ended up with a 140-page “Uke Syllabus: An Introduction to Basic Music Theory for the Ukulele”. It is posted free online at http://www.lakesidepress.com/UkeSyllabus.pdf. Then I took up piano, and also wrote a basic music theory syllabus for that instrument: www.lakesidepress.com/PianoSyllabus. pdf.
My wife and I are blessed with three wonderful daughters (two in Chicago, one in New York), and 5 grandchildren.