While serving as an Air Force surgeon at the height of the Iraq War, Major Brad Cummins fails to save an injured soldier after successful surgery yet must mend the Iraqi national maimed in the same IED blast. Brad survives the medical tribunal’s inquest over the GI’s unexplained death but is haunted by the Iraqi’s words: Maybe you should rethink what you really are. When he returns from deployment, Brad resumes surgical practice with his twin brother—until he discovers his twin shot dead after a suspected robbery. Finding their name tags switched, Brad cannot forget a haunting, anonymous message—I will give you a little wiggle room. Certain that he was the intended target, Brad is forced to uncover the truth—even if that means risking the lives of others. A captivating thriller set against the backdrop of the Iraqi war and the Deep South, Wiggle Room (published in print and eBook) will leave readers gasping for breath.
Wiggle Room earning praise from other authors:
“A rollercoaster ride of murder, intrigue, and plot twists. Wiggle Room keeps you turning the pages to the final, climactic finish.”—Robert Dugoni, New York Times best-selling author of The Conviction
“An action-packed, edge-of-the-seat thriller.” — Carolyn Haines, author of Bonefire of the Vanities
“[A] fine medical thriller…Wiggle Room is expertly wrought” —John Hough, Jr., author of Seen the Glory
“…cleverly plotted, strongly written, [Wiggle Room] will pull you into a story world filled with danger, excitement, and conflict at every turn.” —D.P. Lyle, Macavity award-winning author of Run to Ground
“Darden North’s Wiggle Room is a compelling story packed with suspense, murder, and intrigue….a fast-paced, action-packed thriller.” —Neil White, author of In the Sanctuary of Outcasts
Excerpt
While serving as an Air Force surgeon at the height of the Iraq War, Major Brad Cummins fails to save an injured soldier yet must mend the Iraqi national maimed in the same IED blast. Brad survives the medical tribunal’s inquest over the GI’s unexplained death but endures rigid criticism from his peers. Still blaming himself for losing the soldier after successful surgery, Brad is haunted by the Iraqi’s words: Maybe you should rethink what you really are. When he returns from deployment, Brad resumes surgical practice with his twin brother in Mississippi—until he discovers his twin shot to death in a suspected robbery. When he finds their name tags mistakenly switched, Brad cannot forget a haunting, anonymous message—I will give you a little wiggle room— and is certain that he was the intended target. But when the police, and even his fiancée, discount his fears as paranoia, Brad is forced to uncover the truth—even if that means risking his life, and the lives of those closest to him. Expect the unexpected in this exhilarating and extraordinary page turner.
Professional Reviews
Reviewed by Bookfetish.org
Award-winning author Darden North releases his next thrilling novel, “Wiggle Room”. Published through Sartoris Literary Group, this book is the fourth for North. His previous novel, “Points of Origin” won the IPPY award while “Fresh Frozen” is currently in film development.
“Wiggle Room” follows protagonist, Major Brad Cummins, as he leaves war-torn Iraq and resumes his life as a civilian surgeon with his twin brother. As his loved ones begin to drop around him, Brad can’t help but think their fate is connected with the final surgery he performed on his deployment – one that still weighs heavily on his mind and conscience. While the police and fiancée think he’s overreacting, he finds a trusted ally in his new business partner, Dr. Diana Bratton. As Brad’s luck gets pushed to the limit, he wonders if he’ll ever figure out who is giving him only a little bit of wiggle room.
“Wiggle Room” is a suspense-chocked, mature, medical/military mystery with smarts to boot. North draws upon his more than 20 years of extensive medical experience to bring Brad Cummins to life within the pages of his book. This helped make both the protagonist and the supporting characters believable, relatable, and memorable. I liked how I was drawn to certain characters which turned out to be ‘good guys’ and put off by other characters, which in turn, displayed ‘less than good’ qualities. The question of the antagonist’s identity was skillfully drawn out until the end, though, making you wonder if you were even getting close to being correct throughout the entire read. The end was a surprising – but exceptionally satisfying – conclusion to a shivering ride of deception and murder.
I noticed one curious aspect of “Wiggle Room” that I have not seen in any of the books I’ve ever reviewed (or read, for that matter). In the ‘Acknowledgments’ section, the author notes, “Many character names in “Wiggle Room” were sponsored to benefit…charities…” How cool! North doesn’t wait for his book to get released in order to assist worthy causes; he offers character names up for grabs during the book’s creation. I love it and I love how brilliantly simple it is! If other authors aren’t doing this, I hope this catches on – not only does it promote good causes but it makes the novel even more enjoyable than it already is, knowing that the characters’ names mean something.
New York Journal of Books
Reviewed by George Halas for the "New York Journal of Books"
“. . . there is a sense that Mr. North’s visually acute, action-packed style in this book is likely headed for the silver screen . . .”
If what you seek is a fast-paced, action-packed “just one more chapter” thriller, Wiggle Room by Darden North definitely fits the bill.
Mr. North’s economical writing is augmented by just enough humor to keep the pace brisk and the pages turning. His heroes are less than perfect but eminently likable, and his villains occupy more than one dimension. Mr. North writes as though it is just wrong for a reader to catch a breath.
The opening of the book is set in Balad, Iraq, during the war and the opening sentences describe a mortar attack on a base that is home to an Air Force theater hospital and the reaction of the doctors and nurses who have grown accustomed to the fighting and fallout.
The book’s central figure, Major Brad Cummins, is a tall, good-looking volunteer surgeon nearing the end of his tour of duty. Back in Jackson, Mississippi, a thriving medical practice he shares with his identical twin brother and a beautiful, young fiancée await. The mortar attack denies him “two hours of daylight sleep” that he was due and coincides with an IED explosion that has a helicopter full of casualties headed in the direction of the hospital.
Joining Cummins in the emergency response are nurse Lieutenant Colonel Elizabeth Taylor Cossar and another surgeon, Colonel John Haynes, who also hails from Jackson. A nurse had recently reported Haynes because she smelled what appeared to be alcohol on his breath during surgery.
The casualties include 21-year-old Marine Lance Corporal Chad Giles and Iraqi engineering student Zarife Amarah. Cummins treats both, giving the Iraqi the same quality of care as is provided to the American military. Cummins remarks off-handedly that Amarah was fortunate to have been included in the group brought to the hospital and could have been just as easily left behind.
Amarah replies “Doctor, your American ideals do not allow you to leave people to die in the streets. Your politics, your principles have left you without any . . . how do you say it . . . wiggle room?”
One of the aforementioned patients dies and one lives, sparking an investigation and hearing into Cummins’s actions. While a military board clears him of any wrongdoing, his dealings with guilt are an on-going theme of Mr. North’s narrative. Both patients play a major role in the story after Cummins returns to Jackson.
But Mr. North’s character development is uneven; in most cases he reveals enough about a character to enable a reader to form an opinion and some emotion but rarely provides much else. In most cases, the character development expedites plot development, but particularly in the case of Amarah, leaves a stereotypical impression.
Some potentially fascinating aspects of Amarah’s backstory are simply left to the imagination. For the most part, however, the pace of the story and many significant plot twists more than compensate for this shortcoming.
Upon returning to the United States, Cummins makes concerted efforts to resume his civilian life with his fiancée, his dog, and his medical practice. Mr. North, however, cranks up the action as people all around Cummins are murdered or die mysteriously. Most have some connection to Iraq.
As the body count mounts, Mr. North introduces two new characters: Detective Key Martin and Dr Diana Bratton. The detective has edges that are touched on but not fully explored. He does have a habit of turning up at unexpected points and taking the plot in an unexpected direction.
Dr. Bratton appears initially as a contracted physician working at Cummins’s medical center, but Mr. North develops her as much as any character. She is divorced from an abusive husband, a devoted mother of a school-age daughter and in her role as Cummins’s friend and confidant becomes actively involved in investigating the various deaths.
She also has an ongoing professional relationship with Haynes, who makes several offers to her to join his practice at significantly more money than the Cummins brothers pay her. Her relationship with Cummins continues to evolve to the point where she becomes a partner in the practice and provides one of the dominant narratives in the second half of the book.
One of Mr. North’s previous books, Fresh Frozen, is currently in development to be made into a film, and as one reads Wiggle Room, there is a sense that Mr. North’s visually acute, action-packed style in this book is likely headed for the silver screen as well.
The ending of Wiggle Room is satisfying for the most part, but the epilogue suggests that a followup is in the works.
Reviewer George Halas is a journalist with 15 years’ experience as a sports writer for The Daily Herald in IL.
Bookpleasures.com by Steve Moore
This thriller is full of oddities, but in the positive sense. I often said to myself, “Sure, why not?” when they popped up, as the author takes us from the Iraq War battlefields to Mississippi. Even that’s an oddity. Iraq is not needed. Except for a few regional meals, the rest of the book could take place anywhere in the U.S., so Mississippi is not needed either.
The plot is simple: good (blanks) discover bad (blank) among their midst. There are thrillers where (blank) is cop or lawyer, but here (blank) is filled in with doctor. Nevertheless, the book is fun and maybe just what you need for your summer reading. I finished it over the Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer in the U.S. but officially a time to honor our war dead.
Another oddity: Major Brad Cummins, an Air Force surgeon, is nominally the main character. The story begins with his failing to save GI Giles while saving an Iraqi instead, both wounded in the same IED explosion. Good and bad nurses and docs meet up in that battlefield operating room. But Brad turns out to be mentally challenged (his twin brother sounds like the better half of the egg, but he becomes a victim—one of the first of many). Dr. Diana Bratton, nominally the protagonist’s love interest, comes into the story late back in the U.S., but is more essential to the plot.
I didn’t need the Iraqi terrorist. You can safely ignore him. He only provides a contrived twist as the reader is misdirected to think that all the violence is about him. He’s also a stereotype. This book is not about terrorism and efforts to deal with it, although I’m terrified to think some of this stuff is going on in my local hospital.
The nurses are a nice touch. Elizabeth Cossar and Stacy Lane are nurses in that same battlefield operating center. The first has Cummins’ back, although he often seems too dumb to know it, and some mystery surrounds her as the story unwinds. Stacy Lane, GI Giles’ love interest, is manipulated by both the Iraqi and a bad doctor, in different ways.
Another oddity: This is not a medical thriller, but a conventional thriller about some medical professionals. There are a few technical terms and Michael Jackson’s favorite sleep-aid plays a role, but you’ll find enough action and suspense to forget what kind of work these people do. Or, you’ll want to forget—NIMBY, please.
The final oddity: In spite of the ones mentioned above, I liked the book. Most people will get past the oddities. Bratton and Cossar are strong, intelligent, and interesting women. The men in this story suffer in comparison, especially Cummins. This is Diana Bratton’s story, in fact. She can be my surgeon any day.
----- Steve Moore
Bookpleasures.com
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