Kill Me (Alan Gregory)

My husband and I have discussed this issue many times----"please kill me if I ever become a vegetable or you know my quality of life is gone". We joke about it----but in reality, it makes sense to me. We're both in the medical profession and have seen far too many of those families who won't "let go", someone without a Living Will hooked up to machines and tubes for months and/or years. It's just not the kind of quality of life either of us would ever want to see the other end up living in. So this story really brings this discussion to the reality of "perhaps this is a great insurance to have". However, we don't have the million dollars for this policy. Not many do. But it really makes you think about it------and maybe think that assisted death might be a good thing. Or-----at least this might talk more people into signing a "Living Will". This book is awesome. The ending surprised me a lot-----which I love in a book. It was exciting to read, kept me interested and I didn't want it to end. I'll look forward to his next thriller. I have read them all and find his writing to be excellent. And this is no exception.

I've read all of Stephen White's books and reviewed all of them in one place or another. But I don't just slap an "excellent" or 5 star label on his work because I'm hooked on the series. I really believe that White looks at both his long running series (I believe this is book #13) with the attitude that he wants to keep it alive, but he wants to keep it fresh. He's employed a number of different methods over the years, but he really jolts his following with the 2006 novel, "Kill Me". Big positives: If you do not follow series thrillers, or if you do not want to, and are coming along looking for a great read....you can enjoy "Kill Me" without ever having read an earlier White work. The author makes that happen by having his normal protagonist, Dr. Alan Gregory, play a critical, but less than central role. He does not include Gregory's wife and child, his practice partner, his friends (and we all miss crotchety Sam Purdy) in the novel at all. One close relationship that Gregory has...between man and the elements in the beautiful state of Colorado, is back. Colorado is once again the breathtaking backdrop and home of the central character, a wealthy man, who (and I didn't even question it at the time!) remains unnamed throughout the book. White makes the beauty of the landscape come alive. White has always written books with very brief chapters. At times that has annoyed. In this book, the chapterization clips with the pace of the growing fear and feeling of overwhelm one gets as a man's life ticks down to its final moments. As Gregory's patient, the unnamed man is a force to be reckoned with....but having contracted to an organization that is to kill him if he has a disease or an accident that will leave him in a lingering vegatative state, he is having second thoughts. Big time. There is a family connection to his reasons to keep living, that I won't reveal here -- it's an inspired rationale. There is a beautiful and mysterious female that aids him in keeping alive. There is a heartthumping chase, some twists, and an agonizing demonstration of what it feels like to end your life without hope. In the past, my criticism of White's work has usually been because he beats the dilemma of a psychologist who has a dangerous patient, not divulging information and breaking confidentiality. It's an interesting conundrum, but he goes back to it over and over. Not here. Not even once. This is a masterful run at a familiar setting by an author who is underrated and who proves, with this, perhaps his best book, that he is unmatched at putting together the strategy for a book, and in building plot and character to execute it with precision. Bravo....with 6 stars not available, I'll have to settle for 5. Don't wait for the paperback!

You never know when you will be introduced to an author. A friend who reads my recomendations and happens to live in Denver inquired if I knew about this author and said she had liked some of his past works. I looked up the book. Saw the subject matter and opted not to go there. Then a week or so later a friend who shares his likes and dislikes about books mentioned that he thought Kill Me was an outstanding book. OK. Two out of two requires a look see. And I am so glad I did. Stephen White is indeed a talented author and Kill Me is a book you cannot put down after 100 pages or so. Others here have detailed the plot and all I can add is my loud applause to a difficult issue beautifully presented. If you are unfamiliar with the author, as I was, do yourself a favor and and get this book. I will be looking for earlier works. Talent is so enjoyable!!

I got this book thinking it would be another generic Alan Gregory book, about his work, his partner, his wife with MS, his daughter, and his cop friend. Boy, was I wrong. This is what I am talking about - same kind of premise, but stunning events. An unnamed client who has told his friends 'if anything every happens to me, kill me' - and one 'friend' leads him to a terminal patients' murder inc. - Where you contract to be killed before a terminal illness takes you over the edge - The only thing our dying friend didn't realize is there is a lot of life until you don't breathe any more. Trying to undo this pact, unloading to Dr. Gregory, and all points in between is the novel. It is not a lot of laughs. It is, however, an excellent book, and is the landmark of White's writing to date - Putting some fresh air in a long series. Interesting premise and non-stop action.

Stephen White has gained a growing following with his novels featuring Dr. Alan Gregory, a consulting psychologist in Boulder, Colorado. It is to White's credit that he has taken a somewhat unlikely protagonist --- Gregory --- in an even more unlikely setting --- Boulder --- and created a successful literary franchise. White's work is primarily character-driven, and while Gregory occasionally is the catalyst for events taking place in his life, he also is frequently an observer and a reporter of what is occurring around him. White takes the latter approach a few steps further with KILL ME; the result is a work that is not only his best but also one that will gather for him the heightened acclaim he so richly deserves. Gregory's appearances in this novel are (but for one) momentary, not momentous, yet they do not seem out of place or forced. Indeed, this is very much a Gregory book, simply one told from the other side of the room, or desk, if you will. I read the entire novel in one sitting, compelled to find out what would happen next --- and I was never disappointed for a moment. One of the reasons for this is the anonymous protagonist, a charming though not entirely likable narrator with more money than God and the drive to match. He is totally in control of his life and his destiny. Accordingly, when a friend sustains a terminal injury, and Anonymous has his own brush with death, it gives him the impetus to sign on with a nameless company that he dubs the Death Angels. When a client reaches a certain illness parameter that irrefutably signals the onset of mortality, the Death Angels will terminate that person's life. The contract, by the way, is irrevocable. Once one has signed on and paid for the service, there is no turning back for either party. This is all fine and good until Anonymous is diagnosed with an inoperable condition that may remain benign for several more years, or end his life in five minutes. Signs and symptoms indicate that the latter, rather than the former, is a more likely occurrence. But Anonymous is still driven to live for reasons of his own. He has just one more thing he wants to do, and he won't let his death --- planned or unplanned --- get in his way. With a somewhat unlikely and most unexpected ally, he races against time, and the Death Angels, to put one last thing right. The Death Angels are very good at what they do. But so is Anonymous. And, for that matter, so is White, who provides a two-part conclusion that, I must confess, brought me to tears. KILL ME succeeds as a thriller, a morality tale, a detective novel, and, most importantly, a story. This is one that is simply not to be missed, by an author who quietly has been creating and shaping one of the more interesting protagonists of modern genre fiction. Highly recommended. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub