The Spin
Jerry Gray is an average man--a straight-arrow --but with a non-average amount of troubles. His marriage is failing, his daughter may be dying of a rare blood disorder, he is still paying his late father's hospital and funeral bills, and his closely-held dreams of a music career have been shoved aside. And then, at the worst possible time, he loses his job. That is when Gray decides to abandon his level-headed approach to life--the down-the-middle existence his father preached--and take a chance. A very big chance. He decides to cash in what little he has left and risk it all on one spin of the roulette wheel in Las Vegas.
The news of his quest quickly spreads, becoming a media circus, and captures the imaginations of millions. Soon, Gray is joined by thousands of other people who show up at his home or wait for them to arrive in Vegas, all of them ready to take their own symbolic risk in life, to step out of formation and reach for a dream.
Along the way, we meet some of the most fascinating characters you could imagine, people who see their own lives changed dramatically when they join Jerry's ride to Vegas for The Spin. Chauncey McKissack, a long-time family friend who harbors a deep, dark secret not even Jerry could have guessed. A beautiful singer/songwriter who places such uncommon pressure on herself that it ultimately prevents her music from being heard. A leftover from the "Summer of Love" whose insight and incantations spur the group along on their quest. A would-be writer who allows fear of failure to stymie his stories before they even get started. A narcissistic TV news anchor who can only manage to love his own image. The owners of a hole-in-the-wall casino off the strip in Las Vegas and the publisher of a girly magazine, all whose luck is changed amazingly when The Spin lands in their laps. A drug-crazed pro-basketball player who literally lands in the middle of Jerry's fateful ride to the desert to risk everything.
This amazing heart-over-head parable will have readers re-thinking their own lives and dreams as they go along with Jerry Gray and his odd parade, all the way to Las Vegas and the ultimate impartial spin of the roulette wheel. Red or black? Win or lose? Just as it did for those closest to The Spin, its outcome and what it really means will leave you both amazed and inspired.
About Don Keith (Birmingham, Alabama Author)
Award-winning and best-selling author Don Keith has lived in the South all his life and is a graduate of the University of Alabama. As a broadcast journalist, he won awards from the Associated Press and United Press International for news writing and reporting and was also the first winner of Troy University's Hector Award for innovation in broadcast journalism. As an on-the-air broadcaster, Don was twice named Billboard Magazine "Radio Personality of the Year."
His first novel, THE FOREVER SEASON, received the Alabama Library Association's "Fiction of the Year" award. He has since published more than thirty books, fiction, and non-fiction, including the nationally best-selling thrillers FINAL BEARING, DANGEROUS GROUNDS, and FIRING POINT. The latter will be released as a major motion picture in late 2017 starring Gerard Butler and Gary Oldman. His inspirational novella, THE LAST CHRISTMAS RIDE, has also been optioned for the screen, and his script based on his non-fiction book UNDERSEA WARRIOR is now being shopped. Don’s non-fiction work THE ICE DIARIES was submitted for consideration for the Pulitzer Prize.
Don has written extensively about World War II history. He sponsors the UNTOLD MILLIONS Project, an effort to encourage the capture and publication of eyewitness accounts of major historical events such as the Great Depression, World War II and other wars, the space program, the Civil Rights struggle, and more. The project website is www.untoldmillions.net.
Don lives in Indian Springs Village, Alabama, with his wife, Charlene. His website is www.donkeith.com.
