Death Magnanimous

Description

A criminal defense attorney known for his entertaining and effective courtroom maneuvers, Charlie Chessman was piloting his four-seat airplane on a short hop so routine he could have done it blindfolded.

But something went wrong, something so fast, so unexpected, he can only remember the smells from the fire and his screams in the wreckage, pleading with his lifesavers to let him die.

After months of reconstruction and recuperation, Charlie’s mind hasn’t changed. Left with limited mobility and agility, his only option is assisted suicide, an idea his sister Renee and wife Keri roundly oppose.

But with Charlie’s persistence impossible to ignore, they hire Dr. Richard Fostris, a physician who specializes in ending, rather than saving, life.

The journey begins, to the one state where assisted suicide is legal for people without terminal illnesses. The state of Texas, and a law named for the country’s foremost quality-of-life advocate, burn survivor Dax Cowart, will legally allow Charlie to make the final call. (The law is fictional).

But the trip isn’t easy, and for none of the reasons Charlie expects.

He didn’t expect his care at the Jacobsen Burn Center to overwhelm him with admiration and respect. He didn’t expect his wife—whose candor, confidence, and humor had sustained him—to leave. He didn’t expect to fall in love again.

He wasn’t counting on the support he and his sister would provide each others’ unsteady lives. He never dreamed a caregiver might want him dead. He didn’t think he could rediscover his passions, for the law, for his peers, for defendants in need of quality counsel.

The man who had convinced himself living was too hard never dreamed dying would be even harder.