The Christmas Kid

Reading the blurbs on the jacket cover, my cynical self said Theauthor has a lot of friends! A third of the way into the story,I felt they had grossly understated the book!It IS fantastic...how can so many things happen so quickly to oneperson, and lead to such adventuress? But they do, and the reader is totally involved in the consequences for Casey, thereluctant college kid who friends call the Wizard. In your mind, you agonize with him, scold him for not havilng bettersense, and believe in him as he hurdles the next step in hisChristmas trip home to Kansas from California.Michael Allin has created for the reader a charismatic protagon-ist who, on his circuitious joourney east encounters some far-outcharacters, good and bad, from whom he gains a bit of insight about his own self, and his own abilities.It's great reading, and when you realize you've reached the end,you long for more of Casey, the Wizard.