Off Switch

by Tom Stohlgren

One is four Americans is a binge drinker—someone who has more than five drinks on one occasion. It could happen to any of us. A lovable high school teacher from Los Angeles, Evan Doherty, passes out in an Irish pub and is sentenced by his wife to an ultra-strict Catholic rehab center. If Evan doesn’t convert and complete the four-week program, he can kiss his wife and daughter goodbye. On the surface, well-intentioned discipline trumps much needed compassion, and personal ideologies collide with long-held beliefs in a higher power to complicate the treatment of this common disease that ruins lives. On a deeper level, the story investigates the societal costs of immediate gratification, and an ancient resistance of human beings to change (in many important ways). Evan discovers the power of ‘keeping your loved ones in your head’—as the key to his “Off Switch.” Will his internal power triumph over demons, and return him to the family he loves?

292 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 2, 2011