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Gray Matter

Gray Matter

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Grand Slam for Braver
Review: Braver scores again... This thought provoking novel is excellent. This will be an outstanding film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A wonderful book
Review: This was a wonderful book. Yes, it has the pace and tension of a thriller. You can't put it down. But is also makes you care passionately about the characters. It is ideal for a book group. It grapples with issues that revolve around family and relationships and success. It forces you to question things. What is the nature of parental love? Can we, in fact, damage our children when, ironically, we are trying so hard to protect and nurture them? What is intelligence? Can a single minded emphasis on measurable achievement in school, sports, or the arts, become a perversion of who and what we are? Read this book and I guarantee you will end up arguing about these questions.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great thriller
Review: See book description above.

How far would you go to raise your childs IQ. Gary Braver's latest thriller brings this question, and many more, to mind.
A fascinating and intriguing medical/science thriller with a high dose of reality that covers a controversial subject. Intelligence enhancement.
Well written and fast-paced. This will go onto my 'top five novels' of the year list.

Highly recommended.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Superlative
Review: GRAY MATTER is an interesting, challenging and most of all a believable story! Mr. Braver has the unusual talent and ability to describe and ascribe humanness to his characters - women, men, young ladies, young men, girls and boys. His research concerning human behavior, police duties and activities, as well as educational and medical undertakings is far beyond that of the average author, which makes all of his books not only entertaining, but thought provoking, intriguing and enjoyable reading. Because this story believably could have happened, the reader is kept in doubt concerning what will happen to each of the characters, both major and minor, until reading the final pages.

Buy it, read it and then reflect on what has been told and what you have learned.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Designer Kids
Review: Will this millennium be remembered as "The Era of Designer Kids"?
Gary Braver, "braver" than most authors, is not afraid to answer this question; fictionally, for now. Known for taking on controversial subjects-his previous novel, "Elixir", dealt with the extremes man will go to to remain physically young, and the moral and ethical issues that arise when Science messes with Mother Nature-Braver now ventures into the trepid and taboo subject of using Science to alter "defective" children. In an age where anything involving children can be construed as verboten, Braver sheds light on the shadowy experiments performed in the quest for perfection. A particularly relevant subject as the length of childhoods shrink to nearly nothing as parents strive to have their 15 minutes of fame, often vicariously, through their kids.
With prominent sports figures being trained at far earlier ages than in the past, is it not feasible that this quest should turn to academia as well? Gary Braver, a former physicist and current Professor of English, does not hesitate to answer this question, coming up with his version of "SuperTot".
Rachel Whitman, so it would seem, has a perfect life, has it all. Good health, successful marriage, money, a beautiful home and leisurely life. But she also has a dirty secret that threatens to consume her very soul with guilt. During her care- but not drug-free college days, Rachel experimented with "TNT" an LSD-like substance that, as one of its effects, greatly enhances the sexual experience. And at that age, does anyone care or worry about one of the possible side-effects, genetic damage that may lead to defective children? If so, it didn't stop Rachel from using the drug, and, in her case, the side-effect is not just POSSIBLE, it happened.
Her son Dylan, despite having a secure and loving home, is inflicted with learning disabilities, causing Rachel to not only worry about the effect on the family this will have, but the hardships facing his son down the road of life.
At the same time, an obsessive cop is, despite his superiors' orders against it, working on a "cold case" involving the mysterious deaths of several children- all found with unexplained drill holes in their skulls.
Braver also spices up the story as he follows a very strange teenager named Brendon, who has equally strange scars on his head, as he searches desperately for a way to feel emotions as others seem to do. Equipped with a photographic memory, Brendon however, sees this not as a blessing but a curse, as trivia he's seen throughout the day clutters up his mind to the brink of madness.
And what about Nicole, a drop-dead gorgeous teen, with an odd tattoo that Brendon recognizes, but, even with his photographic memory, can't remember where. Nicole, who also has a box full of "souvenirs" in her closet-personal items from the many older men she dates.
When Rachel hears of a cutting-edge experimental procedure that can correct deficiencies in children, is it her guilt or desire that prods her to submit Dylan to the surgery? Are the disappearances and murders of children being investigated by the obsessive cop, related to the mysterious clinic? Only Braver knows, and he ain't telling, except in his fascinating new thriller, "Gray Matter", published by Forge Books.
A tense and intense rollercoaster ride through the halls of modern medicine, "Gray Matter" may forever change the way its readers look at little Johnny, who's "so smart he's in college while most kids are in junior high!" Is that child prodigy really a prodigy? Or the results of his parents wanting her to "have all the things we didn't have"?
Amazon should include a gallon of Midnight Oil with the purchase of Braver's books, as there tends to be plenty of it burned during the reading of them, and particularly the reading of his latest, "Gray Matter".

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Gary Braver's GRAY MATTER
Review: I liked this book very much. The characters were very real to me. The writer has a terrific grasp of neuro-surgery and neuro-
science and a good feel for police procedures. I particularly liked Greg (the obsessed police detective) and Dr. Malenko was not one of your typical evil geniuses--he actually had my sympathy for a bit, until I really got to hate him! The plot never stopped grabbing me, and I found I couldn't put the book down. In fact, I put aside everything else to finish it! There seems to be a deeper side to this book: If brain surgery is anywhere near the developmental state portrayed in this novel,
we are in for some frightful times! We had all better be looking over our shoulders...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Thought-Provoking and Chilling Book
Review: I bought "Gray Matter" with the idea that I would read it in my spare time. I ended up finishing it in about five days! This is a very thought provoking book, and also a chilling one- the people and the community are "everyday people and places" and it is not a hard reach to envision your own community and even people you know who are like the characters. Also, the idea of "harvesting" brain cells from smarter kids for ones that are maybe a little slower to develop or have mentally developmental problems is not so far-fetched, given the direction that alot of current research has gone, and the pressure that is now on students to not only achieve, but excel, intellectually...MCAS, etc. So this makes the story very timely. The first chapter draws you right in- the writing is crisp and direct, and even though there is a lot of technical information (which is very interesting, by the way), it is in no way cumbersome or too advanced that it loses you. You WILL get lost, but in a good way. The pace of the story moves very quickly and there is a certain amount of suspense that builds steadily. There are disturbing elements- mainly because, as stated earlier, it is not hard to believe that there aren't a number of parents out there who would, without question, obtain this opportunity for their child, thinking they are doing something to enhance the child's life...and not realizing what the cost of that enhancement is. Nothing is free...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: GRAY MATTER
Review: "Gray Matter" is the latest of five superior books by Gary Braver. If you read for the fun of it then this is the author for you. His stories move logically and without chaff or filler, carrying the reader smoothly and seamlessly with his perfect use of the English language. The characters in Braver's books show his remarkable insight into human behavior. Whereas some authors create characters from cookie cutters fashioned of themselves, the people in Braver's books are individuals apart. The premise and situations that Braver dreams up, regardless how bizarre, become completely believable through his skillful use of words. One always knows where they are in a Braver story, and where they have been, but they never know where they are going. Every time the reader thinks they have it all figured out, and know what will happen next, the story takes a twist far more interesting and imaginative than they expected or dreamed. Braver's previous book, "Elixir," shares this review, as do the three books he wrote as Gary Goshgarian, titled "Rough Beast," "The Stone Circle," and "Atlantis Fire." Comparisons of this author to various other writers abound, and should be ignored. This author is unique, and destined to be a standard for comparing others.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: GREAT READ FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTIMIDATED BY SCI FI
Review: I picked up this book from the loaning shelf at work and was I ever pleased. I myself have a special needs son that falls into that fuzzy area of not profound but not spot on for age intelligence. I thought that this would be emotional diffucult for me to read, but the storyline is not one that is a possibility in real life, so far anyway. But what a great book full of normal and bizarre characters with lives that look great on the outside but in reality are not so "tidy" This has the elements of suspense, drama and murder all in one and talk about a surprise at the end. This is not my usual choice of read, I tend to like things a little more "sappy", but I was impressed and not disappointed at all. I found it fun to go out of that comfort zone that I usually stay in and read something that I normally wouldn't even consider. I so enjoyed this one that I have just begun Elixer, the other Gary Braver novel today. Gray Matter is a sci fi/medical thriller that doesn't cross the line of being far fetched. This is something that could actually come to pass and it messes with your mind in just the right amount!!!! Great mens and women's read.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Thought-Provoking and Frightening
Review: I just finished Gary Braver's GRAY MATTER and found it both thought-provoking and frightening ... and I love a good thrill. Life and work are so mundane, and I'm finding Braver's books wonderful escapism. I read ELIXIR first, and found a writer whose next book I can look forward to. The key for me is that I don't forget Braver's stories (or his characters) after I put them down. Most works of fiction are boring and I can't imagine who reads them or why a publisher would bother. For a smart change, set aside the snoozey literary novels and take a walk in "Braver Country" and see if you can stand the excitement! If you're like me you won't turn back.


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