by J. Matthew Neal (Author)
Dr. Dan Rudbeck is a talented academic physician whose career advancement has been limited by his abrasive, politically incorrect manner and penchant for excessive interest in eclectic areas outside of medicine. His greatest claim to fame came in high school when he created the fictional character Barclay Dixon, a vastly talented Renaissance man, a living amalgam of all things excellent--the amazing Amalgam-Man. He has found that his life hasn't paralleled that of his creation, which ended up as a Hollywood movie, comic book, and cartoon series. Unfortunately, his own personal shortcomings have resulted in him not achieving his goals. Rudbeck's latest conspiracy theory about healthcare ransomware attacks leads him to believe a prominent medical society president has been murdered, when others feel it was just natural progression of her advanced cancer. He must enlist the help of several others in order to investigate the "crime" that absolutely no one, including the authorities, has any interest in. Along the way, he meets up with an old flame whom he has not seen in over thirty years, who has had her own share of personal problems. He must somehow also convince the skeptical authorities this isn't one of his other wild goose chases. In the end, he realizes the things he has been searching for have been within him all the time, and he must somehow become greater than the perfect hero of his novels to avoid losing his old love for the second time.