Resources for journalists, podcasters, event organizers, and media contacts.

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About the Book

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Book Description

Pat Santry spent decades building careers, raising a family, and pushing forward — always moving, never quite stopping long enough to ask the harder questions. Thin Ice is the story of what happened when he finally did.

Part survival story, part reckoning with identity, this memoir traces Pat’s journey from a childhood marked by instability and loss through a distinguished career in technology — and into the unexpected clarity that comes when the ice beneath you finally cracks. Diagnosed with autism in adulthood, Pat found not a new identity but the long-missing explanation for a lifetime of feeling out of step with the world around him.

Written with unflinching honesty and the engineer’s eye for systems, Thin Ice is about the structures we build to survive, and what we find when we’re brave enough to dismantle them. It releases March 31, 2026 — timed intentionally for Autism Acceptance Month in April.

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Selected Quotes from Thin Ice

“When I finally learned the name, I did not feel broken. I felt, for the first time, accurately described.”
— Patrick Santry, Thin Ice

“The diagnosis did not change who I am. It explained it.”
— Patrick Santry, Thin Ice

“Some consequences follow you even after you’ve started making the right choice.”
— Patrick Santry, Thin Ice

“Structure, it turned out, was what I had always needed.”
— Patrick Santry, Thin Ice

From the Foreword by Katie Santry

“He doesn’t process emotion the way most people do. He processes it like a computer — analytically. But that doesn’t mean the emotion isn’t there. It’s just stored differently.”
— Katie Santry, Foreword to Thin Ice

“The restraint you’re going to read isn’t coldness. It’s not absence. It’s a different way of holding feeling.”
— Katie Santry, Foreword to Thin Ice

“This book is written for men who grew up without a blueprint — men trying to build something when no one showed them how.”
— Katie Santry, Foreword to Thin Ice

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Story Angles for Media

Journalists are welcome to explore these angles when covering Thin Ice:

• Late autism diagnosis after a 30-year technology career
• Autism in high-performing professionals and engineering culture
• Veteran transition to civilian life and identity reconstruction
• Father and daughter collaboration, with influencer Katie Santry writing the foreword
• Autism Acceptance Month release timing

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About the Author

Patrick Santry is a technology leader and four-time Microsoft MVP with more than two decades of experience in DevOps, enterprise platforms, and software architecture. He is the author of several technical books published by McGraw-Hill and Wrox Press.

Thin Ice is his first memoir. Pat lives in Pennsylvania with his wife Vicki. His daughter Katie Santry — a content creator with a large social media following — wrote the foreword.

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Suggested Interview Topics

• Late-diagnosed autism in high-achieving professionals — what it means to finally have language for a lifetime of experience
• How a technology career shapes (and is shaped by) neurodivergent thinking
• Vulnerability and identity in memoir: writing the story you lived before you understood it
• The intersection of engineering mindset and emotional intelligence
• Autism Acceptance Month: why awareness isn’t enough
• Fatherhood, legacy, and the meaning of being truly known by your children
• The role of faith, survival, and reinvention in the second half of life

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Sample Questions for Interviewers

• You spent decades in a demanding technical career. What finally made you stop and write this story?
• How did receiving an autism diagnosis as an adult change how you understood your own past?
• The book is titled Thin Ice — what does that metaphor mean to you personally?
• Your daughter Katie wrote the foreword. What was it like to have her voice in this book?
• What do you hope readers — especially other late-diagnosed adults — take away from Thin Ice?
• You’ve published technical books before. How was writing a memoir different?

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Key Facts at a Glance

• 🗓 Release: March 31, 2026 — timed for Autism Acceptance Month (April)
• 📖 Length: ~193 pages / ~41,600 words
• 💻 Author background: 4× Microsoft MVP · McGraw-Hill & Wrox Press author · Senior DevOps & Platform Engineering leader
• 👩‍👧 Foreword: Written by Katie Santry, content creator and Pat’s daughter
• 🧠 Theme: Late-diagnosed autism, identity, survival, and self-discovery
• 📍 Author location: Pennsylvania, USA

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Contact

For interview requests, review copies, or speaking inquiries, please use the contact form or reach out directly through LinkedIn.

Review Copies

Advance review copies of Thin Ice are available for journalists, podcasters, and media outlets.

Available formats:

• EPUB
• PDF

Requests can be submitted through the contact form.

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