Physician-author’s first novel draws on four decades in pulmonary and critical care medicine to imagine a near-future healthcare system run by artificial intelligence.
SANTA BARBARA, CA, UNITED STATES, September 10, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Physician and author S.A. Lonky released his debut novel, A Conspiracy of Data: Fail Safe — Not Safe, on September 3rd through Black Rose Writing. The book is the first installment in a planned three-part series and is available now in paperback, eBook, and audiobook formats.
Lonky is board-certified in pulmonary and critical care medicine, fellowship-trained with an academic research background, and a specialist in toxic chemical exposure and biochemical defense. He has practiced medicine for more than four decades. Over the course of his career, Lonky says he observed a gradual shift in how medical decisions are made as hospitals adopted increasingly automated diagnostic systems, an observation that informed the novel’s premise. A Conspiracy of Data draws on that clinical background rather than external research alone.
The novel is set after a pandemic prompts the United States to adopt a single-payer healthcare system built around the Patient Care Initiative, a national medical database that feeds an artificial intelligence module designed to diagnose patients with minimal human oversight. The story follows Dr. Alex Korman, a physician who had stepped back from hospital work, as he is drawn into investigating the sudden death of his former mentor, Max Fischer. Fischer’s death and the encrypted data he was carrying at the time lead Korman toward a conspiracy connected to the system built to manage patient care.
The book review site Best Thrillers described the novel as “a winning medical conspiracy thriller for the AI age, complete with murder, medical realism and the possibility that a fail-safe is anything but safe.” Reader reviewer Carlos Harding wrote that Korman is “the most real medical protagonist” he had encountered in fiction, citing the character’s voice and the novel’s clinical detail.
“I wrote this book because I have spent forty years inside a healthcare system that is already moving in this direction,” said Lonky. “The technology described in the novel is not science fiction. The murders are. Much of what Korman fears in the book reflects changes I have observed, in a slower and quieter form, over the course of my career. In the novel, I gave those changes a plot.”
A Conspiracy of Data is the first of three planned novels following Korman through Fail Safe — Not Safe, Retribution, and Resolution. The publisher is positioning the series for readers of medical thriller authors such as Robin Cook, Michael Crichton, and Michael Palmer.
Advance review copies, the book trailer, cover art, and author photography are available through the author’s website, salonkyauthor.com. The book is available for purchase on Amazon.
Dr. Lonky is available for interviews regarding the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare diagnostics, questions of clinical oversight as medical technology advances, and his four decades of experience in pulmonary and critical care medicine. Interview requests may be directed to the media contact listed below.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
S.A. Lonky is a board-certified physician in internal medicine, pulmonary, and critical care medicine. He served as an NIH Fellow, has an academic research background, and is a specialist in toxic chemical exposure and biochemical defense. He has practiced medicine for more than four decades and currently divides his time between clinical work, writing, speaking, and medical commentary. He is based in Santa Barbara, California. A Conspiracy of Data: Fail Safe — Not Safe is his debut novel and the first installment in a planned trilogy from Black Rose Writing.
MEDIA CONTACT
• Contact Name: S.A. Lonky
• Website: https://salonkyauthor.com/
• Email: s.a.lonkyauthor@gmail.com
SA Lonky
the CONSPIRACY OF DATA trilogy
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