The Surrounding (Paperback)

Wildfires ravage much of Central Florida. They have burned out of control for weeks and nothing seems to be able to stop them.In the tiny Spiritualist Village of Cassadaga, 71-year-old retiree and widower Everett Chambers, a certified medium and spiritual counselor, struggles with depression and loneliness following the death of his beloved wife, Eleanor.One evening at an "All Message Service" Ev (as he likes to be called) receives a strange and ambiguous communication from the other world. It appears that a young woman who has recently "passed over" is desperately trying to contact her sister named Katherine. For some mysterious reason Ev has been chosen as the conduit.At that moment 26-year-old Orlando television traffic reporter Katie O4Hara is experiencing frustrations with her job and is restless to find something more in life. One morning as she appears on a local news broadcast Ev and his friend and neighbor Jonelle Smathers see her traffic report. Ev is immediately convinced beyond doubt that she is the "Katherine" he is to contact.His first attempts to communicate this "message" to Katie fail miserably. She, her co-worker Chantelle Sonnier, and Katie4s fianci Dan Abel, a local architect, all believe Ev to be a crackpot, "one of those Spiritualist kooks," and dismiss him outright. Katie and Dan escape for a weekend of skiing on the Indian River near the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. She continues to think about the odd message from the persistent old man in Cassadaga. One night at dinner she and Dan meet Rudy Vasquez, a college friend of Dan4s who is a detective with the Daytona Beach police department. Later we learn of a serial murderer of young women that has been dubbed by thepress as "The Resort Killer." In The Surrounding all these disparate elements eventually converge. Even as the wildfires continue to burn Ev and Katie4s fates become inexorably intertwined in a suspenseful and dangerous quest. They are forced to work together