Josh Wilcox is a thirty something single dad looking for love (or at least some half decent sex) in his post divorce world. He’s dragging along some hefty baggage (a murdered daughter will have that effect), but manages to get his act together and jump back into the dating scene. He discovers that things have changed a lot since the last time he was single, and that finding a good woman, even with the questionable help of online dating, is a serious pain in the ass.
After a handful of dates that could give the Apocalypse a run for its money, he meets Pam. She’s cute, funny, enjoys sex, and is, thank God, mentally stable. She has some baggage of her own, but at least manages to brush her hair.
Then he learns that one of the women he previously dated is a sociopath who’s neither forgotten nor forgiven him. She decides Josh needs to pay for his sins, and she’ll stop at nothing to make sure he does.
Welcome to the website for the novel Life Line, a book about love, sex, and the messiness of relationships in our modern world. (A word of warning, Life Line is graphic with both language and depictions of sex. If you’re offended by such things, this probably isn’t a book you’ll enjoy.)
So what does the title refer to? Here’s the explanation:
I have this theory about life that came to me after my daughter disappeared.
I think our lives, if we had to reduce them to some kind of basic, pictographic representation, would look something like an EKG.
I remember this came to me with a kind of blazing clarity after getting off the phone with the police for what seemed the thousandth time. I saw this thin horizontal line in my mind, and I realized it represented my life.
The image stayed with me. I thought about it a lot. What did it mean?
We don’t spend our time in a state of perpetual happiness. Mostly, we’re just living our lives—going to work, dealing with bosses, spouses, kids, family, the bills, the house, the yard, the car—which isn’t really happy or sad; it just kind of is.
But there are moments when happiness punches through, and those times are represented by the peaks in a life line. Some are taller than others: falling in love, graduating high school or college, getting married, the birth of a child. Those are the high ones, the mountains on the line. But smaller ones are there too. Your favorite sports team beating a hated rival, or winning a championship. Doing well at work, maybe getting a raise, or at least some recognition of a job well done. There are lots of little things that make up the peaks.
But there are valleys, too. Some are minor, but some are deep, and as dark as space.
Some reader feedback:
Just wanted to let you know I read a review of yours and saw LIFE LINE on your site, clicked on that and it’s become the new office “rage.” I have never heard my boss laugh so hard!!
I haven’t been able to put the book down all day!!