MacGregor's Final Battle

by Joe Clark

Donald MacGregor had months to live. The monster that would end his life - brain cancer. His response was a final adventure.
Kate Graham was cook, cashier, and waitress the night he stopped at a St. Louis diner for a late meal. She decided to take an extended vacation and join his tour of America.
Their stories unfold as they follow Lewis and Clark across the Great Plains to the Pacific Ocean and then push on to Fairbanks where Mac has a distant cousin. His life has been a success but his greatest achievements have been overtaken by events. She was a brilliant student who focused her energies on big, abusive athletes. One of them put her in a hospital and sent her life on a downward spiral.
In this saga of death and redemption, their battle for his life turns hers around.

Kindle Edition

First published January 10, 2023

About the author

Joe Clark’s Demented got him Long-Listed for the Book Viral Millennium Book Award in 2020. His novels, The Walsh’s: the Coming of Eve, Demented, and MacGregor’s Final Battle are Book-of-the-Month selections. He writes Contemporary Drama and Urban Adventure. His “deliciously flawed characters” face moral and ethical dilemmas as they battle through challenging times. April Walsh, a suburban housewife and struggling writer, puts it all on the line in her undercover investigation of sex work. She and friend, PI Nickey Arnold, fight for the prickly, often abrasive, Cindy Foster when her porn past threatens to destroy her. Nurse’s Assistant, Kate Graham crosses lines when she falls in love with an elderly patient in MacGregor’s Final Battle.
Joe is a family man who had a forty-year career as a Communications Systems expert. He earned his degree in Electrical Engineering after serving in the Army including an extended tour in Vietnam. When he married Anita in 1986, they had four children, four cats and three dogs between them. Somehow it all worked out. They’ve added six grandkids and four great-grandkids. They make their home with their two lab-border mix rescue dogs in Maryland on the outskirts of DC in the house they’ve occupied for most of the last forty years.
Joe is currently working to tell the story of the Civil War from the perspective of his great-grandfather who served in the Union army from the first Battle of Bull Run in 1861 to the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in 1864.

Reviews

[Kathleen Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Touching and Heartfelt

I was skeptical about the story in the beginning but as I read, I really evaluated the whole end of life situation. At one point Mac says he'd rather live than rot in his last days. As in this story, someone must DO something to help the old guy instead of asking him. So true! I enjoyed Mac's last cross country trip!

[JUANITA BAKER · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reading

a glimsp of real life. And real emtions !
😊 One to relive
our lives And people we meet and lovel Is Already our
destiny

[Irene Lasky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

[Literary Reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

MacGregor’s Final Battle is a novel following the last journey of the protagonist Mac MacGregor as he undertakes a cross-country trip to visit his cousin in Alaska after his wife Anne of forty years dies, and he learns he has stage four brain cancer. He chooses to forgo cancer treatment and make the most of his last months alive. On his journey, he follows the Lewis and Clark trail National Historical Trail in his RV, which traces the route of the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1803 to 1806, taking him from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to the Pacific Ocean.

The book is based loosely on the author’s own life. Elements of the recorded history of America and the Lewis and Clark trail are peppered throughout the story. I enjoyed the character development throughout the book. Mac starts off as a depressed, lonely man; he is grieving and intends to shut out the world around him and his own family. Through the first half of the novel, his grief is palpable. He is portrayed as a stubborn, straight-talking character who comes to terms with his own mortality and failing health. He meets Kate, a Nursing Assistant, at a dinner in Saint Louis, where she is working part-time, and she persuades him due to his ill health, he should not be undertaking the journey on his own. Instead, she offers to accompany him as his caretaker. With some reluctance, he agrees, and they continue his trip together.

The novel frequently examines the theme of colonialism in America and the destruction of natural habitats in the name of progress. There is a motif throughout the story of the loss of a simpler life in the face of modernity. Mac is a military veteran of the Vietnam war, and he meets other Veterans on his travels. The ongoing effects of military service are discussed through Kate and Mac’s dialogue throughout the novel. I found the novel to be a slow burner as it takes a little while to get going. Some of the plot is somewhat repetitive as the characters undertake many similar activities as they move along the trail. Hence, the action builds up slowly rather than the tension and interest for the reader increasing as they move along their journey.

However, as the book progresses, you become more invested in the characters. Finally, in the last half of the novel, the story starts to pick up its pace. The relationship between Kate and Mac develops, and Mac’s tough exterior softens. The story ends as a sweet love story between the two.

[Sheila Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really makes you ponder what life should be. As you first go on this journey with Mac, you may question a few of his choices. But by the end, you applaud them. The book also happens to have incredible historical lessons throughout as they travel the path of Lewis and Clark. Very detailed imagery with the benefit of being informative.
But it was the relationship between Mac and Kate that really held my attention. A May-December romance made at the end of one's life that created food for thought. Because when all is said and done, life is supposed to be lived. And to love while doing it is everything. I hope you give this book a shot. Well worth it.

[David Posey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Travelogue With A Story

An engaging story line plus descriptions of many sites in the USA. Sometimes difficult conversations are really love and believing in yourself is the right thing to do.

[John Bowes · Rating 5 out of 5]

getting to know you

Better than anticipated. A cross continental drive introduces people to each other and allows us to know them. A fine finish to a normal life.

[Berton L. Dinkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good. I enjoyed it.

I don't read a lot of fiction, but the cover caught my eye. Perhaps that was a great marketing idea. The writing kept me reading and I'm glad I did.

[Terry Zimmermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful and Heartwarming.

A beautiful story. I loved the way it all played out and how it all concluded. It was a wonderful life lesson.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you for the free kindle copy.
An interesting read.