A Heartbeat Away (28 page)

… a little more …

When a delightful concert comes to an end,

the orchestra might offer an encore.

When a fine meal comes to an end,

it's always nice to savor a bit of dessert.

When a great story comes to an end,

we think you may want to linger.

And so, we offer ...

AfterWords—
just a little something more after you

have finished a David C Cook novel.

We invite you to stay awhile in the story.

Thanks for reading!

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• Getting to Know Harry

• More from Harry

Getting to Know Harry

If we could sit down together, I'd want to hear your story. Everyone has one.

If you think I get up each morning, fill up my drip coffeemaker, and settle in with my laptop to play with my imaginary friends (my characters, okay? I'm not really crazy), then think again. Oh, I've had days when I wonder what that kind of life would be like, sitting in a wood-paneled office with my fingers busy on the keyboard, uncovering the great American novel, stopping in the afternoon to read email correspondence from adoring readers. But my life is far from the typical novelist: I've spent most of the last decade slugging it out day in and day out with the enemies of surgery in equatorial Africa. Enemies, you ask? Sure. HIV, cancer, bizarre tropical infections, trauma, and tuberculosis, just to name a few. Just this week, I've had to repair a femoral artery severed during a bone-splintering car accident, removed a huge (yes, that's a common word we use to describe the cancers here) abdominal tumor in an elderly woman (I had to remove a portion of her stomach and colon just to get around it), stent open an esophageal cancer, help an old man urinate by removing the bulging prostate gland that had shut off his stream, and carefully excise an overactive thyroid that had caused a young woman's heart to race without an external cause.

The writing part of my life comes at the bookends of days filled with sweat and blood. The sweat is mine; the blood, my patients'. My clinics are filled with people who have long ignored their cancers and have often visited “traditional healers” who only worsened their situations. There is little time during the day to turn my thoughts to the craft of fiction, so that comes when the lights in the clinic are off and the last patient has either been admitted or found a ride up the rutted road toward the highway.

I've been doing more and more work outside Kenya these days, because medicine opens the way into places of political turmoil and trouble, places where Christian missionaries are unwelcome. And surgery provides a practical way to love people desperate with physical needs and hopefully provide a small glimpse into who Christ was and is.

What is it that motivates me, that makes me tick? Why sacrifice my comfortable life in America for this? And why, for that matter, do I spend the hundreds of extra hours it takes to write novels?

It is not my love of writing or a passion for story (although I am passionate about those).

It is not my love of surgery (although that too is a passion of mine).

My greatest passion and motivation is to see Christ treasured in the hearts of all people. That may sound like an impossible goal to get a handle on, but I believe it is helpful to understand the target and how my work may or may not fit.

To this end, I believe medicine (and surgery in particular) is a wonderful field of God-sent opportunities: people come to surgeons when they are in crisis. And these crises create a situation where people finally start asking the right questions about eternity. Many of these people would never seek out a pastor; but, by necessity, they find themselves in my office. And there, with permission, we hope to offer compassion, prayer, and the science and art of healing surgery. Here in Kenya, I practice in a mission-hospital setting, and many of the patients come face-to-face with the gospel during their hospital stays. It may be a word from a physician, a nurse, the woman who mops the floor, or a chaplain, but my prayer is that everyone has an opportunity to hear the greatest news ever!

This same philosophy guides my writing. A novel is way too long of a project to write simply for entertainment. Don't hear me wrong! I think entertainment is important; if I can't capture and entertain, no reader will hang in there to the end. But in the process, I hope that a small message of hope, faith, or grace is absorbed. My desire is that Kraus fiction will nudge people closer to a life where Jesus is treasured. To that end, I desire my protagonists to be real: people with problems. Not all of my protagonists are Christians; many, like Tori in this book, find faith as a result of the conflicts they face. When I write about a Christian character, it is important to me to show them as real people with real-life issues. Christians struggle with doubt, Christians have pain, Christians are tempted, Christians fall, get angry, and struggle with materialism and lust. So, if you are reading Kraus fiction, expect a transparent look into real life. You won't see a rose-petal-strewn pathway for the Christians in my novels. That's just not reality.

I hope that if we ever have any real face time together, you will see the same kind of transparency in my life. I'm a Christ follower, but I am a ragamuffin. I sin, and I don't like wearing masks that say “I've got it all together.” Lots of folks like to put authors, surgeons, and missionaries on pedestals; so you understand, some people have a way of putting me in an elevated place where I don't deserve to stand. When I look down, I'd better be standing on a pedestal of grace, or I'm setting myself up for a fall. I sincerely believe that the world doesn't need more perfect Christians; the world needs transparency! Christians who are willing to say “I haven't got it all together, but I'm holding the hand (actually, I'm engraved on it!) of God, who does.”

More from Harry

Fiction:

The Six-Liter Club

Salty Like Blood

Perfect

The Claire McCall Series:

Could I Have This Dance?

For the Rest of My Life

All I'll Ever Need

Serenity

The Chairman

The Stain

Lethal Mercy

Fated Genes

Stainless Steal Hearts

Middle School/Young Adult:

A Zebra Tale

Inspirational Nonfiction:

Domesticated Jesus

The Cure: The Divine Prescription for the Body of Christ—Life-changing Love

Breathing Grace: What You Need More Than Your Next Breath

A HEARTBEAT AWAY

Published by David C Cook

4050 Lee Vance View

Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

David C Cook Distribution Canada

55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5

David C Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

The graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C Cook.

All rights reserved. No part of this ebook may be reproduced, scanned, resold, or distributed by or through any print or electronic medium without written permission from the publisher. This ebook is licensed solely for the personal and noncommercial use of the original authorized purchaser, subject to the terms of use under which it was purchased. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights.

This story is a work of fiction. Characters and events are the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is coincidental.

The Scripture quotation in the epigraph is taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Other Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com; and
THE MESSAGE
. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

LCCN 2012941318

ISBN 978-1-4347-0257-9

eISBN 978-1-4347-0511-2

© 2012 Harry Kraus

Published in association with Natasha Kern Literary Agency, PO Box 1069, White Salmon, WA 98672.

The Team: Don Pape, Dave Lambert, Amy Konyndyk, Jack Campbell, Karen Athen

Cover Design: Nick Lee

Cover Photos: iStockphoto (couple); Shutterstock (eye); stock.xchng (fire)

Printed in the United States of America

First Edition 2012

What people are saying about …

A Heartbeat Away

“A transplanted heart comes with a double dose of nightmares for its recipient and is the catalyst for danger, romance, and lives forever changed. Riveting and poignant with breath-catching twists, surgeon Harry Kraus offers masterful storytelling and ‘grace from the cutting edge.' A perfectly prescribed read!”

Candace Calvert,
author of ECPA best seller
Code Triage
and
Trauma Plan

“
A Heartbeat Away
is a medical thriller brimming with suspense, mind-blowing twists, romance, and a spiritual message that reaches deep into the soul. Harry Kraus has masterfully crafted another dynamic story. Highly recommended!”

Mark Mynheir,
retired homicide detective and author of
The Corruptible

“An intriguing, fast-paced, compelling story that had me glued to the pages and raises the question, can we pass along the essence of who we are? Can you change someone's eternity from beyond the grave? Fascinating medical questions with a riveting plot. Highly recommended!”

Susan May Warren,
award-winning, best-selling author of
You Don't Know Me

“Harry Kraus knows how to put a reader's heart through the ringer. Fast-paced, suspenseful, and emotional,
A Heartbeat Away
kept me reading late into the night, eager to know where Tori Taylor's new heart would lead her. This one's a keeper!”

Robin Lee Hatcher,
best-selling author of
Heart of Gold
and
Betrayal

“Writing with the authority of a physician, Harry Kraus takes us inside the world of medicine to meet a surgeon who needs a heart transplant … in more ways than one. This is, without a doubt, Dr. Kraus's best novel yet.”

Richard L. Mabry, MD,
author of
Lethal Remedy
and the Prescription for Trouble Series

“Harry Kraus is as skilled with a pen as he is with a scalpel.
A Heartbeat Away
is a compelling, page-turning story that surprised me at every turn. And it is ultimately a beautiful picture of the depths of the human heart when God is allowed to reside there.”

Deborah Raney,
author of
Beneath a Southern Sky
and the Hanover Falls Novels

“I don't normally read medical suspense novels. But I read this one. And once I started, I couldn't stop.
A Heartbeat Away
is a great read. It has everything I want in a book. And it's based on a premise I've never heard of and found utterly fascinating. Do yourself a favor, get this book!”

Dan Walsh,
best-selling and award-winning author of
The Unfinished Gift
,
Remembering Christmas
, and
The Discovery