Counting Down

by Gerard Stembridge

Meet Joe Power, approaching forty and counting down . . . Counting down the days until he sees his son.Counting down the number of years he spent with his wife before it all fell apart.Counting down the inches he has to lose off his waist to be a babe magnet again.Counting down all the fools who want to tell him to get his act together.Counting the hours until he can take one of his exhilarating night walks and encounter . . . well, who knows what, but one thing is sure, he'll be the one to come out of it alive.Counting down every moment knowing that one day, it will be his last . . .

Genres: Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 29, 2009

About the author

Gerard "Gerry" Stembridge is an Irish writer, director and actor. He was educated at CBS Sexton Street in Limerick. While attending University College Dublin, he was auditor of the Literary and Historical Society. He taught English and drama at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Clontarf.

Reviews

[John Maguire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting start to this book but ultimately not a very satisfying read as the finish fails to deliver. Some interesting characters and situations at the start which fill in the backdrop to how the character came to be where he is but then the finish just........finishes. On the bright side, the finish didn't drag out too long or anything so I didn't find it hard to get to the end - I just wish there had been a bit more by the time I got there.

[Laura Crosse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started off really, really well and I was hooked for a good few chapters. It has a very unusual plotline and I thought wow this is original for about the first ten chapters. After that it started to drag a lot...

By the end I was reading to get it finished rather than to know what happens and I hate when that happens during a book especially one that started out so promising. I think a lot of the book's problem was that because we were only dealing with the one character through a good eighty percent of the book it was very easy to get tired of it. The main character being a total idiot didn't help either. Its not the worst book but it is ultimately disappointing mainly because the beginning is so good and the ending is not good at all.