THE INSTANT SAINT

by John Sherlock ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 21, 1965

Dr. Stephen Quinn becomes an instant American hero after a coast-to-coast display of intestinal fortitude. He has allowed twenty million viewers to watch as he undergoes a delicate operation--a kidney transplant. The operation is the prelude to a campaign to capture public attention, and the public pocketbook, in an effort to raise funds for his Chinese refugee camp. His camp, located on a neutral strip on the China Tibetan border is the ill-equipped, inadequately staffed hope of hundreds of Chinese escaping from the Red Dragon. The campaign blossoms as Quinn hits the speechmaking trail with blasts at the AMA ""no more than an exclusive union with too much power"" and Americans in general ""Zombies in a nightmare which was once the Great American Dream"" and the public responds with a masochistic zeal. But the novel follows the less gilded aspects behind the scenes. There is George Romby, image maker, who will promote anything for a buck; his Girl Friday Karen, single, pregnant and facing an abortion; Brian Armstrong, her lover, war correspondent without a war, out to expose Quinn as an egoistic fraud.... The Instant Saint will make an instant identification in most reader's minds with the Dooley story and it is metamorphosed here into a novel which has a certain readability overriding its melodramatic tone.

Pub Date: Oct. 21, 1965

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1965

Categories: FICTION