Files from a secret research project show up on Dr. Robert Thames’s doorstep, forcing him to think about something he’s been avoiding – the degrading “study” at Danvers Academy, especially the naked photos of each student, including himself, taken at his prep school. He tracks down four close friends from school, and together they uncover the terrible truth of what was buried by the faculty, the … the school, and the boys themselves.
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David Sklar’s new book, “Atlas of Men” (Volcano Cannon Press), with a release date of October 16, 2018, should delight readers of medical thrillers, mysteries, and boarding school/coming of age tales—as well as all lovers of well-written fiction. It’s a great read, with compelling characters, page-turning pacing balanced with contemplative passages, and an often gut-wrenching, always riveting plot about what happened to students at an upscale boarding school in the 1960s. There’s also a lovely second-chance-at-romance story line in the novel.
Inspired by true events that happened to the author, the narratives and dialogues ring with authenticity. With his crisp, on-point and well-worded sentences, Sklar takes readers right smack into the heart of the story—and into the heart and mind of the protagonist, the enigmatic, brilliant, and compassionate Dr. Robert Thames.
Robert Thames is a medical doctor specializing in infectious disease research. Born in the Philippines of a Filipino mother, Robert was adopted by American medical missionaries who lived there. As a teen, he was sent to the USA to a mostly-white, upper crust all-boys boarding school (modeled after the author’s own alma mater). While there, he was subjected to humiliating and unethical so-called scientific research that left him and his classmates traumatized for years.
As the novel opens, Robert, as a never-married and somewhat lonely adult several decades past his boarding school days, works in a government research job and learns his position is to be cut due to funding issues. Soon after that, he mysteriously receives three boxes of old records pertaining to the unethical research conducted on him and his classmates at the boarding school. Painful memories resurface, and he decides to pursue the matter further.
As part of his own investigation, Robert tracks down his four closest friends from the school. Together, he hopes they can uncover the truth of the so-called scientific research, long buried by the faculty, the school, and many of the boys themselves. Robert locates the man who was his closest friend at the school and who is now married to the girl Robert had fallen in love with while they were all teens. To Robert’s dismay, he learns that this former best friend is dying. As a last request, his dying friend asks Robert to bring together for one last time their group of close friends from the school days. Robert agrees, though he is unsure how to locate one of them.
Robert is not only driven to reunite the friends for one final time, but also to bring some peace to himself and his dying friend. But he encounters threats and discouragement from the school’s officials once they learn he has the boxes of research. The school has much to lose if Robert publicizes the materials and the knowledge he has gained since reviewing the boxes.
Told in a combination of contemporary times and flashbacks to the boarding school days, “Atlas of Men,” moves at an energetic pace, building suspense and compassion for the boys who were humiliated in the name of science. The flashbacks to the time when the boys were required to strip completely naked in front of classmates while they were individually photographed is heartbreaking, but told with candor and empathy. What becomes of the naked photographs in the wrong hands provokes anger, and Robert struggles with a desire for retribution and revenge. But he also understands much harm –including embarrassment and injury to innocent persons—could result if he goes public with what he has learned. Robert’s internal conflict over whether to expose the school for its past sins creates a compelling element of the book. The woman who was his first love offers to help him, whatever he decides to do. A new bond begins to develop between them, though much stands in their way.
The author, who is drawing upon personal experiences, knows exactly how to frame the plot and put the reader right there in the action. Readers will care, and care deeply, for Dr. Robert Thames, his classmates, and his lost love.
“Atlas of Men” raises important ethical questions about research with live human subjects and science’s relationship to race and identity. But beyond that, it is simply a well-written, compelling story about scandal and secrecy at a prestigious private school and of the boys who, as men, transcend what happened to them while students there.
Part medical thriller, part boarding school drama, and part second-chance romance, Atlas of Men is an engaging, gripping novel, well-written and insightful, which deserves a wide audience of readers. I received an Advanced Readers Copy of the book through an online review magazine (not through the author or the publisher), but the opinions here are strictly my own.
Atlas of Men is not the type of book I’m normally drawn to as it is dark and intense with some very disturbing subject matter. Having said that, once I started reading I found it to be pretty fascinating. It is dark, intense, and often disturbing, but it is also full of twists and turns that kept me engaged. The story is based on true events, so in many ways is a fictionalized memoir. Many of the characters are deeply flawed because of their past experiences, but the story progresses through their trying to live with and through those flaws and past experiences. It can be a difficult read at times, but it is worth it.
An amazing medical thriller that kept me entertained the entire time. Following Robert and his search for answers was interesting and relatable. A beautifully written thriller that is enjoyable for all kinds of readers.
Atlas of Men has earned a well-deserved, permanent spot in my personal library. David Sklar mixes a coming of age tale with elements of a thriller, all set to the backdrop of a New England boarding school. Sklar writes with the poetic intensity that readers crave, making you step back and wonder what you would do or how you would react in a certain situation. And that’s a true sign of a great novel!
Tragic and thought-provoking, this book really plays with the idea of what doing the right thing looks like in the most difficult of circumstances. The protagonist, Dr. Robert Thames, is a sympathetic and honorable character that makes it easy to fall into the world that Sklar has created. Through his riveting point of view we’re taken through a horribly traumatizing situation, back and forth into past and future, living through it with him. I loved this book and would definitely recommend!
The idea for Atlas of Men was so original and really makes it difficult to put down! Solving the mystery and uncovering information along with the characters made me so eager to find out how it all turned out. The friends and their relationships with one another really contributed to the heart of the story, even among such twisted circumstances. I will definitely be reading more from this author.