Island Bluffs is a story of love, forgiveness, and understanding the dark side of the human spirit. It explores the age-old question: are children accountable for the sins of their parents and grandparents? Carly Mason is a successful New York City forensic dentist. She and her widower husband, Gabe Berk, are trying to start a family. Thinking they had exhausted the options by consulting with all of Manhattan's fertility experts, Carly and Gabe learn of an eccentric scientist who runs an exclusive clinic. The doctor commits to helping the couple conceive the baby they so desperately want, but only if they agree to what seems like an outrageous stipulation; Carly must carry twins, one biological and one that she is a surrogate for. Once the twins are born Carly has to surrender the non-biological twin to the doctor at birth, no questions asked. Further, should the old doctor die before Carly gives birth, she has to agree to give the baby the name chosen by the doctor. As required for treatment, Carly and Gabe move into a new house, which is within thirty minutes of the clinic. They soon discover that their new home and town, Island Bluffs, are far from ordinary. Carly and Gabe feel eyes spying on them at every turn. Gabe's father, Yehuda, hears strange noises that only he can hear. Megan, Gabe's rebellious sixteen-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, is attracted to the son of a Neo-Nazi. The mysteries continue to deepen as a scavenger ship appears on nearby waters searching for sunken treasure along with glimpses of a lone swimmer lumbering through the waves of Barnegat Bay. Island Bluffs is a present-day town bound to the past by horrible secrets and pacts made long ago. Keeping secrets buried as some had hoped was no longer an option for the Berks. Their new and some thought long-forgotten home made that impossible by putting them squarely in the middle of it all. When the truths are revealed, the shocking twists and turns will challenge the very notions of what is right and wrong.
Alan A. Winter graduated with honors from Rutgers College, New Brunswick, with a major in history. Though nominated for a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, Winter pursed his first career choice and earned his dental degree from NYU. He completed his advanced training at Albert Einstein School of Medicine and his periodontal certificate from Columbia School of Dental Medicine where he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2008. A Diplomate in the American Board Of Periodontology, Winter founded and edited an award winning dental journal and published more than twenty scientific articles. Winter lectures frequently, and has been an associate professor at the dental colleges of both NYU and Columbia.
To help foster his writing career, Winter trained as a forensic dentist at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Bethesda. He has published three previous novels, Savior’s Day, which Kirkus Reviews selected as a “Best Book of 2013,” Someone Else’s Son and Snowflakes in the Sahara. His screenplay, “Polly,” received honorable mention at the Austin Film Festival and is the basis for his latest novel, Island Bluffs. Winter maintains a periodontal practice in NYC and lives in Bernardsville, New Jersey.
