An Open Heart by Harry Kraus

Hi All! 

This is my second book that I have read by Harry Kraus. The first one was A Heartbeat Away. 

Dr. Jace Rawlings grew up in Africa, but he left as fast as he could. He left full of pain planning to never return and went to the US where he and his wife did pretty well. Jace became a well loved heart surgeon, but his fame went through the roof when he saved the life of the Governor. The Governor's wife really reminds Jace of his twin sister who died. Frankly, most people don't even know he had a sister, much less a twin, but Jace is caught totally off guard trying to save this patient and suddenly winding up in the media in photos with the Governor's wife Anita Franks. 

If it had stopped there, maybe everything would have been ok, but it didn't. Jace wound up having an operation from head trauma. He awoke to his wife Heather being full of questions that he can't answer. He didn't even remember how he got where he was! His wife wants, needs answer to what was going on between him and Anita Franks, since she got killed trying to save him from an accident he can't recall. There are so many questions, and no answers. To top that off, someone has sent Heather a copy of the autopsy report for Mrs. Franks and now there are more questions than ever! 

Jace's running back to Africa to deal with his past hasn't helped any yet. However, Jace never dealt with his past pain, and now the future is uncertain and the recent past missing. If Jace is going to make it through this as a person, much less save his marriage, he is going to have open a heart that was closed up to God and everyone else a very long time ago - his own.

Carol 

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

An Open Heart

David C. Cook (June 1, 2013)

by

Harry Kraus

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A Word from Harry:

I started writing my first novel during my last year of surgery training at UK. I was a chief resident, and started writing Stainless Steal Hearts in a call room at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Lexington. It was a crazy time to write! I had a very demanding schedule, often spending days and nights in the hospital. I had two sons at that time, and I recognized the wisdom in my wife's urging: "Now doesn't seem the right time for this dream."

My experience as a writer is far from typical. Having received my formal training in biology and chemistry and medicine, my only preparation for a writing career was a love for reading. The longest thing I'd written before my first novel was a term paper in undergraduate school. My first novel was accepted by Crossway Books and published in 1994, and it wasn't until after I had FOUR published novels that I even opened a book of instruction about the craft of writing fiction. This is not what I recommend to others! Yes, I was successful, but I was bending the "rules" without knowing it. I had a natural talent for plotting, but I realize my initial success may have stunted my growth as a writer. I'd have made faster progress if I'd have gone to the fiction teachers sooner.

I have three sons: Joel, Evan, and Samuel. Look closely in all of my books and you'll see them there. My lovely wife, Kris, provides the basic composition for all those beautiful, athletic, dedicated women in my novels.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Their Messages—From Beyond the Grave—Might Destroy Him ...

They hover between life and death, their hearts stopped on the surgery table. And the messages Dr. Jace Rawlings’ open-heart surgery patients bring back from beyond the grave cannot be ignored. For they predict the deaths of people around him, and point a finger of suspicion straight at him.

It thrusts Jace into a firestorm of controversy and danger. A maeltsrom blown by the darker winds of political intrigue and spiritual warfare. And the forces working against him will do anything to stop him from uncovering a truth they will kill to hide. He’d come to Kenya to establish a heart-surgery program for the poor. But what he will find in that place where he grew up will put everything at risk–his marriage, his career . . . his life.

If you would like to read the first chapter of An Open Heart, go HERE.

The book link is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/078140535