From an early age Bobby Austin shows he’s no ordinary child, in spite of the terrible circumstances of his birth. His foster parents are amazed at Bobby’s phenomenal intelligence. It isn’t long before Bobby draws the attention of the government Office for Special Strategic Intelligence Services. Its Director, Orin Varneys, persuades Bobby’s parents to allow Bobby to attend a government-run academy for gifted children, an institution with close ties to MIT and Harvard. Realizing Bobby would suffer in a public school environment, they agree.
. . . blends suspense and science to create a thriller with a different kind of superhero.
Bobby excels, applying his compulsive energy to solving highly complex problems in spite of his internal demons. Throughout his teen years he achieves multiple Doctorates, but he suffers tragedy also as those close to him die. When Varneys demands Bobby use his intellect for military applications, Bobby makes it clear that he wants only to work for the betterment of mankind. He and the government part ways, and Bobby finds support elsewhere. His Nobel Prize-winning cures attract hostility from pharmaceutical companies, who are losing their cash cows, and religious fanatics who believe Bobby is usurping God. Yet something else stands beyond them, a greater evil that even Bobby’s formidable intellect can barely give a shape to. As he finds true love with the intelligent and beautiful Christina Moore, Bobby closes in on a cure for AIDS—but the evil force may be far closer to him than he imagined…
In Miracle Man Leibowitz blends suspense and science to create a thriller with a different kind of superhero. Bobby Austin is a genius character with his own flaws and foibles that make the reader root for him to find happiness.
