Author(s): Doug Cooper

Fiction

From Memorial Day until the student workers and tourists leave in the fall, the island community of Put-In-Bay, Ohio, thrives on alcohol, drugs, sexual experimentation, and any other means of forgetting responsibilities. To Brad Shepherd -- recently forced out of his job as a junior high math teacher after the overdose death of a student -- its exactly the kind of place hes looking for. Allured by the comfort and acceptance of the hedonistic atmosphere, Brad trades his academic responsibilities and sense of obligation for a bouncers flashlight and a pursuit of the endless summer. With Cinch Stevens, his new best friend and local drug dealer, at his side, Brad becomes lost in a haze of excess and instant gratification filled with romantic conquests, late-night excursions to special island hideaways, and a growing drug habit. Not even the hope from a blossoming relationship with Astrid, a bold and radiant Norwegian waitress, nor the mentoring from a mysterious mandolin player named Caldwell is enough to pull him out of his downward spiral. But as Labor Day approaches, the grim reality of his empty quest consumes him.
With nowhere left to run or hide, Brad must accept that identity cannot be found or fabricated, but emerges from within when one has the courage to let go. A look at one man's belated coming of age that's equally funny, earnest, romantic, and lamenting, Doug Coopers debut novel explores the modern search for responsibility and identity, showing through the eyes of Brad Shepherd how sometimes, we can only come to understand who we truly are by becoming the person were not. When a student overdoses on his mother's pain pills in the class of twenty-eight-year-old math teacher, Brad Shepherd, the parents hold the school district accountable and sue. To help their case, the school district offers Brad a severance if he walks away without a fight. Distraught over the death of the student and feeling betrayed by the district, Brad leaves his job and escapes to Put-in-Bay, a village on an island in Lake Erie. Waiting for him is a new, carefree lifestyle. But the freedom soon proves too much. Brad becomes lost in a haze of excess and instant-gratification. When tragedy strikes, the grim reality of his empty quest consumes him.
With nowhere left to run or hide, Brad must accept that identity cannot be found or fabricated, but rather emerges from within when a man finds the courage to let go. Sometimes a person must become who he is not to understand who he truly is.