Book Description

Meet Harry Adkins, a self-declared "cockeyed optimist." Adkins believes he can beat any odds. Overweight, heavy drinking, a philandering international businessman in his forties with a long suffering wife when the story opens, he might have come to the end of that road of optimism. Friend and physician, Dr. Alex Quick-Campbell, offers an escape route. He signs up for the Healthy Hearts Live Longer study. Following a year of training and monitoring, H2 L2 predicts the precise day of the patient's death. A threat lurks in the background. Convicted murderer, Johnnie Allegro, has vowed to avenge his death penalty sentence by going after Adkins, the jury foreman. On the day a slimmer and healthier Adkins receives the predicted date of his death, Adkins decides to finish cleaning up his life. He sends a fax to Naomi, his Japanese business partner: their long-standing affair is over. Flash forward ten years. Today is the predicted day of Adkins' death. He has misremembered the day by one, however, and wakes up feeling victorious, his cockeyed optimism vindicated. He's alive! Healthy! Rich! Life is good! But Allegro has escaped from jail. There's a surprise in store. It's well worth the anticipation. There's a full meal of life in this witty novel. In the end, we root for cockeyed optimism to prevail: we want to wish Adkins a long and happy life. Scott Driscoll, M.F.A., award winning Seattle Freelance writer