MIRACLE MAN
by William R.
Leibowitz
BLURB:
REVERED REVILED REMARKABLE
The
victim of an unspeakable crime, an infant rises to become a new type of
superhero. Unlike any that have come
before him, he is not a fanciful creation of animators, he is real.
So
begins the saga of Robert James Austin, the greatest genius in human
history. But where did his extraordinary
intelligence come from?
As
agents of corporate greed vie with rabid anti-Western radicals to destroy him,
an obsessive government leader launches a bizarre covert mission to exploit his
intellect. Yet Austin’s greatest fear is
not of this world.
Aided
by two exceptional women, one of whom will become his unlikely lover, Austin
struggles against abandonment and betrayal.
But the forces that oppose him are more powerful than even he can
understand.
“Miracle Man” was named by Amazon
as one of the Top 100 Novels of 2015 and one of Amazon’s Top 10 Thrillers for
2015. It’s been an Amazon Best Seller, and a winner of a national Best
Thriller award.
PURCHASE LINKS:
Excerpt:
1
Edith and Peter Austin sat stiffly in the worn
wooden chairs of Dr. Ronald Draper’s waiting room as if they were being graded
on their posture by the receptionist. Edith’s round cherubic face was framed by
graying hair that was neatly swept back and pinned. Her dress was a loose
fitting simple floral print that she had purchased at a clearance sale at JC
Penney. Their four year old son, Bobby, sat between them, his shiny black dress
shoes swinging from legs too short to touch the floor. Edith brushed the boy’s
long sandy hair away from his light blue eyes that were intensely focused on
the blank wall in front of him. Peter, dressed in his construction foreman’s
clothes, yawned deeply having been up since five in the morning, his weathered
face wrinkled well beyond his years. Looking down at his heavy work boots, he
placed his hand firmly on Edith’s knee to quiet her quivering leg. When they
were finally shown into Draper’s office, the receptionist signaled that Bobby
should stay with her.
Ronald
Draper was the Head of the Department of Child Psychology at Mount Sinai
Hospital. A short portly man in his late forties, the few remaining strands of
his brown hair were caked with pomade and combed straight across his narrow
head. His dark eyes appeared abnormally large as a result of the strong lenses
in his eye glasses and his short goatee accentuated his receding chin. Glancing
at his wrist watch while he greeted Peter and Edith, Draper motioned for them
to take a seat on the chairs facing his cluttered desk. Draper had been
referred by Bobby’s pediatrician when Bobby’s condition didn’t improve.
“Describe
to me exactly what you’re concerned about,” Draper said.
Edith
cleared her throat. “It started about a year ago. At any time, without warning,
Bobby will get quiet and withdrawn. Then he’ll go over to his little chair and
sit down, or he’ll lie down on the window seat in the living room. He’ll stare
directly in front of him as if in a trance and then his lids will close
halfway. His body will be motionless. Maybe his eyes will blink occasionally.
That’s it. This can go on for as much as forty minutes each time it happens.
When visitors to our house have seen it, they thought Bobby was catatonic.”
Draper
looked up from the notes he was taking. “When Bobby comes to, do you ask him
about it?”
Edith’s
hands fidgeted. “Yes. He says, ‘I was just thinking about some things.’ Then,
when I ask him what things, he says, ‘those things I’m reading about.’”
Draper’s
eyes narrowed. “Did you say, things he was reading about?”
Edith
nodded.
“He’s
four, correct?”
Edith
nodded again and Draper scribbled more notes.
“Do
you question him further?”
“I
ask him why he gets so quiet and still. I’ve told him it’s real spooky.”
“And
how does he respond to that, Mrs. Austin?”
Edith
shook her head. “He says he’s just concentrating.”
“And
what other issues are there?”
“Bobby
always slept much less than other children, even as an infant. And he never
took naps. Then, starting about a year ago, almost every night, he has terrible
nightmares. He comes running into our bed crying hysterically. He’s so agitated
he’ll be shaking and sometimes even wets himself.”
Draper
put his pen down and leaned back in his worn leather chair, which squeaked
loudly. “And what did your pediatrician, Dr. Stafford, say about all this?”
As
Edith was about to reply, Peter squeezed her hand and said, “Dr. Stafford told
us not to worry. He said Bobby’s smart and imaginative and bad dreams are
common at this age for kids like him. And he said Bobby’s trances are caused by
his lack of sleep, that they’re just a sleep substitute—like some kind of
‘waking nap.’ He told us Bobby will outgrow these problems. We thought the time
had come to see a specialist.”
Tapping
his pen against his folder, Draper asked Edith and Peter to bring Bobby into
his office and wait in the reception area so he could speak with the boy alone.
“I’m sure we won’t be long,” he said.
His
chin resting in his hand, Draper looked at the four year old who sat in front
of him with his long hair and piercing light blue eyes. “So, Robert. I
understand that you enjoy reading.”
“It’s
the passion of my life, Doctor.”
Draper
laughed. “The passion of your life. That’s quite a dramatic statement. And what
are you reading now?”
“Well,
I only like to read non-fiction, particularly, astronomy, physics, math and
chemistry. I’ve also just started reading a book called ‘Gray’s Anatomy.’”
“Gray’s
Anatomy?” Draper barely covered his mouth as he yawned, recalling how many
times he had met with toddlers who supposedly read the New
York Times. In his experience, driven parents were usually the ones who
caused their kids’ problems. “That’s a book most medical students dread. It
seems awfully advanced for a child of your age.” Walking over to his bookcase,
Draper stretched to reach the top shelf and pulled down a heavy tome. Blowing
the dust off the binding, he said, “So, is this the book that you’ve been
reading?”
Bobby
smiled. “Yes, that’s it.”
“How
did you get a copy?”
“I
asked my Dad to get it for me from the library and he did.”
“And
why did you want it?”
“I’m
curious about the human body.”
“Oh,
is that so? Well, let’s have you read for me, and then I’ll ask you some
questions about what you read.”
Smiling
smugly as he randomly opened to a page in the middle of the book, Draper put
the volume down on a table in front of Bobby. Bobby stood on his toes so that
he could see the page. The four year old began to read the tiny print fluently,
complete with the proper pronunciation of medical Latin terms. His eyes
narrowing, Draper scratched his chin. “Ok, Bobby. Now reading words on a page
is one thing. But understanding them is quite another. So tell me the meaning
of what you just read.”
Bobby
gave Draper a dissertation on not only what he had just read, but how it tied
it into aspects of the first five chapters of the book which he had read
previously on his own. By memory, Bobby also directed Draper to specific pages
of the book identifying what diagrams Draper would find that supported what
Bobby was saying.
Glassy
eyed, Draper stared at the child as he grabbed the book and put it back on the
shelf. “Bobby, that was very interesting. Your reading shows real promise. Now
let’s do a few puzzles.”
Pulling
out a Rubik’s cube from his desk drawer, Draper asked, “Have you ever seen one
of these?”
Bobby
shook his head. “What is it?”
Draper
handed the cube to Bobby and explained the object of the game. “Just explore
it. Take your time—there’s no rush.”
Bobby
manipulated the cube with his tiny hands as he examined it from varying angles.
“I think I get the idea.”
“OK,
Bobby—try to solve it.”
Thirty
seconds later, Bobby handed the solved puzzle to Draper.
Draper’s
eyes widened as he massaged his eyebrows. “I see. Well, let me mix it up really
good this time and have you try again.” Twenty seconds after being handed the
cube a second time, Bobby was passing it back to Draper solved again. Beginning
to perspire, Draper removed his suit jacket.
“Bobby,
we’re going to play a little game. I’m going to slowly say a number, and then
another number, and another after that—and so forth, and as I call them out I’m
going to write them down. When I’m finished, I’m going to ask you to recite
back whatever numbers in the list you can remember. Is that clear?”
“Sure
Doctor,” replied Bobby.
“Ok,
here we go”. At approximately one second intervals, Draper intoned, “729; 302;
128; 297; 186; 136; 423; 114; 169; 322; 873; 455; 388; 962; 666; 293; 725; 318;
131; 406.”
Bobby
responded immediately with the full list in perfect order. He then asked Draper
if he would like to hear it backwards. “Sure, why not,” replied Draper.
By
the time Draper tired of this game, he was up to 80 numbers, each comprised of
five digits. Bobby didn’t miss a single one. “Can we stop this game now please,
Doctor? It’s getting pretty monotonous, don’t you think?”
Draper
loosened his tie. He went through his remaining routines of tests and puzzles
designed to gauge a person’s level of abstract mathematical reasoning,
theoretical problem solving, linguistic nuances, and vocabulary. Rubbing his
now oily face in his hands, he said, “Let’s take a break for a few minutes.”
“Why
Doctor? I’m not tired.”
“Well,
I am.”
Taking
Bobby back to the waiting room, Draper apologized to Peter and Edith for the
long period during which he had sequestered Bobby.
“Is
everything alright, Doctor?” Edith asked.
“Why
don’t you take Bobby to the cafeteria for a snack and meet me back here with
him in thirty minutes,” Draper replied.
When
the Austins returned to Draper’s office, Draper had two of his colleagues with
him. He advised Peter and Edith that his associates would assist him in
administering a few IQ tests to Bobby.
Peter’s
eyes narrowed as he looked at Draper. “What does that have to do with the
nightmares and trances, Doctor? We came here for those issues - not to have
Bobby’s intelligence tested.”
“Be
patient, please, Mr. Austin. Everything is inter-connected. We’re trying to get
a complete picture.”
Draper
and his associates, one a Ph.D in psychology and the other a Ph.D in education,
administered three different types of intelligence tests to Bobby (utilizing
abbreviated versions due to time constraints). First, the Slosson Intelligence
Test, then the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Revised (WISC-R) and
finally, the Stanford-Binet L-M.
By
the time the exams were concluded, Draper’s shirt was untucked and perspiration
stains protruded from beneath his arms even though the room was cool. He
brought Bobby back to the reception area, and took Peter and Edith into a
corner of the room, out of Bobby’s earshot. “Your child isn’t normal. Are any
of your other children like this?”
AUTHOR
BIO:
William
R. Leibowitz has been practicing entertainment/media law in New York City for a
number of years. He has represented
numerous renowned entertainers and many entertainment and media notable
companies. William has a Bachelor of
Science degree from New York University (magna
cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and a law degree from Columbia University.
William
wrote Miracle Man because of its
humanistic and spiritual messages and because he feels that in our current times--when
meritless celebrity has eclipsed accomplishment and the only heroes are those
based on comic books, the world needs a real hero--and that, of course, is
Robert James Austin, the protagonist in Miracle
Man.
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