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Come Again
When RAY CASS, a successful advertising executive and lapsed Catholic, begs God to save his dying teenage daughter, MELISSA, his prayer is so persuasive, God answers it under one Ray must promote the Second Coming of JESUS CHRIST. Thus begins a taut, twisted thrill ride taking Ray from his high-octane world of crafting slick messages selling glamorous products to creating a communications package that will form the foundation of the most important marketing campaign in history. Ray faces the intense challenges and dangers being God’s messenger has always evoked. A timeless, yet contemporary Jesus opens a surprising window into His life, miracles, crucifixion, and resurrection. As the project unfolds, Ray must sell his ad agency and work alone to maintain his secret. Assisted only by Melissa and his assistant, GINA SPIZZO, Ray assembles the campaign elements. From the images they help create, the photographers, filmmakers, and designers Ray enlists to work with him come to suspect they are involved in the Second Coming. Some accept this revelation; others dismiss it as ridiculous fantasy. As gossip and media coverage increase, Ray must discuss and defend his work. As he does, he begins to rekindle his moribund faith, which he tossed aside the night his wife, Jamie, was killed by a hit-and-run driver five years earlier. After massive media exposure, Ray is harassed and threatened by religious zealots, who accuse him of blasphemy and heresy. Both protesters and supporters demonstrate across the street from his house, where he works on the campaign. Fr. TED CAVANAUGH, a slick assistant to CARDINAL GONZAGA, the Archbishop of Chicago, badgers Ray for a meeting between Gonzaga and the supposed Jesus. Jesus won’t accept, so Ray refuses. Feeling slighted by the rejection, Gonzaga labels Jesus a minion of Satan and becomes Ray’s enemy. Ray and Gina become lovers. Cavanaugh and Fr. SCOTT DARROW, a priest who ministers to the poor, support Ray. Unknown stalkers threaten Melissa. Gina’s brother, JOEY, who heads a small crime family, dissuades them. Televangelist fanatics kill Gina and nearly kill Ray. Against Jesus’ wishes, Ray, who recognizes the killers’ leader, gives Joey his name. Joey kills him. Ray is devastated and shamed by his refusal to obey Jesus’ request to say nothing. Ray learns Gonzaga is the anti-Christ in a posthumous letter he receives from Cavanaugh, who is murdered by the Cardinal while Ray moves Melissa to the protection of her wealthy grandfather. Gonzaga is elected Pope, setting the stage for the End of Days confrontation. Joey thwarts Gonzaga’s multiple attempts to kill Ray, including a set-up by a sexy female assassin in Rome. Jesus must bring Ray back from the dead to complete the Second Coming campaign’s real harassing Gonzaga into acting rashly, making mistakes, and rushing ill-prepared toward Armageddon. With the End of Days imminent, Gonzaga’s mistakes will doom his enterprise. It’s God’s will.
286 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 2015
1 person want to read
About the author
Rick Novak
7 books5 followersBefore writing The Doctor and Mr. Dylan, Rick Novak worked as a clinical anesthesiologist, medical director, and expert witness in Northern California.
Rick was born in Hibbing, Minnesota, to a welding foreman and a homemaker. His mother read two books per week, and Rick developed the same habit, frequently bicycling the four blocks from their home to the public library to pick out new material. He graduated from Hibbing High School in 1972 and was accepted to Harvard College. For his Harvard application essay Rick penned a short story about God revealing Himself to two drunks in a Minnesota tavern.
Rick declined Harvard and enrolled instead at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where he received a degree in Chemistry in 1976. From 1973-1977 Rick worked five summers with United States Steel in the iron ore mines near Hibbing. He played on the United States Junior Men's Curling championship teams in 1974 and 1975. Rick then studied medicine at the University of Chicago School, graduated with an MD in 1980, and moved to California the following day to become an intern at Stanford Hospital.
He spent the next thirty-plus years at Stanford, where he served as an intern, a resident in internal medicine, an emergency room faculty member, an anesthesia resident, and finally as an Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor of Anesthesia and Deputy Chief of the Anesthesia Department at Stanford.
Rick's writing career blossomed in the role of Deputy Chief, where he authored a monthly column in the department newsletter. The theme of each essay centered on the differences between the private practice of anesthesia and the university-based teaching practice of anesthesia. He began posting these essays on The Anesthesia Consultant website (theanesthesiaconsultant.com) in 2010. Readership grew, and now hundreds of thousands of people visit the website each year.
Beginning in 2001, Dr. Novak developed an interest in anesthesia medical-legal consultation, a role that drew him into the courtroom as an expert witness. The courtroom scenes in The Doctor and Mr. Dylan are realistic and compelling because Dr. Novak has been there, sitting in that witness chair. He's experienced the scenes, fielded the questions, and felt the emotions that accompany high-pressure medical-legal cases.
Rick's lifelong dream of creating entertaining fiction led him to imagine a story: the plot dealt with an anesthesia complication, a crumbling marriage, a son's quest for elite college admission, and a courtroom drama, all set in his and Bob Dylan's hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota. Three years of writing and rewriting yielded the manuscript of The Doctor and Mr. Dylan. In 2014, literary agent Anne Devlin believed the story was a winner, and sold the book to Pegasus Publishing.
Rick continues his work in clinical anesthesia at Stanford Hospital and at Waverley Surgery Center in Palo Alto, California. He lives with his three sons, Zachary, Theo, and Oliver, passes on his love of academics and reading to them, and coaches their basketball and Little League baseball teams. Rick is beginning work on his next novel.
Rick was born in Hibbing, Minnesota, to a welding foreman and a homemaker. His mother read two books per week, and Rick developed the same habit, frequently bicycling the four blocks from their home to the public library to pick out new material. He graduated from Hibbing High School in 1972 and was accepted to Harvard College. For his Harvard application essay Rick penned a short story about God revealing Himself to two drunks in a Minnesota tavern.
Rick declined Harvard and enrolled instead at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where he received a degree in Chemistry in 1976. From 1973-1977 Rick worked five summers with United States Steel in the iron ore mines near Hibbing. He played on the United States Junior Men's Curling championship teams in 1974 and 1975. Rick then studied medicine at the University of Chicago School, graduated with an MD in 1980, and moved to California the following day to become an intern at Stanford Hospital.
He spent the next thirty-plus years at Stanford, where he served as an intern, a resident in internal medicine, an emergency room faculty member, an anesthesia resident, and finally as an Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor of Anesthesia and Deputy Chief of the Anesthesia Department at Stanford.
Rick's writing career blossomed in the role of Deputy Chief, where he authored a monthly column in the department newsletter. The theme of each essay centered on the differences between the private practice of anesthesia and the university-based teaching practice of anesthesia. He began posting these essays on The Anesthesia Consultant website (theanesthesiaconsultant.com) in 2010. Readership grew, and now hundreds of thousands of people visit the website each year.
Beginning in 2001, Dr. Novak developed an interest in anesthesia medical-legal consultation, a role that drew him into the courtroom as an expert witness. The courtroom scenes in The Doctor and Mr. Dylan are realistic and compelling because Dr. Novak has been there, sitting in that witness chair. He's experienced the scenes, fielded the questions, and felt the emotions that accompany high-pressure medical-legal cases.
Rick's lifelong dream of creating entertaining fiction led him to imagine a story: the plot dealt with an anesthesia complication, a crumbling marriage, a son's quest for elite college admission, and a courtroom drama, all set in his and Bob Dylan's hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota. Three years of writing and rewriting yielded the manuscript of The Doctor and Mr. Dylan. In 2014, literary agent Anne Devlin believed the story was a winner, and sold the book to Pegasus Publishing.
Rick continues his work in clinical anesthesia at Stanford Hospital and at Waverley Surgery Center in Palo Alto, California. He lives with his three sons, Zachary, Theo, and Oliver, passes on his love of academics and reading to them, and coaches their basketball and Little League baseball teams. Rick is beginning work on his next novel.
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