Elevator

by Steve Janowick

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Bill Grayson and I am a mediator by profession. An attorney for over twenty years, I've specialized in mediation for the last twelve. I'm very good at what I do. I've negotiated settlements for government officials, resolved disputes between local celebrities and even refereed the divorce of Western Sun's wealthiest couple. But all that experience could have never prepared me for my latest case. It involves a man named Sam Shaw. He wasn't anyone you would have known. He was a common man; a hard-working, middle-class citizen who loved his wife as much as their expected child that she carried in her belly. However, last night, after plummeting to a depth of grief almost unfathomable, he put a .38 to his chest and pulled the trigger. Now, you might think that my services were called upon to mediate a resolution between the beneficiaries and the courts. Or maybe act as a go-between for the deceased's creditors and his estate. But you would be wrong. You see, I'm not allocating the disbursement of his assets or settling his unresolved fiscal affairs... I'm determining the fate of his soul. ELEVATOR is a contemporary novel that tells the story of two men whose scarred pasts intersect as the result of a terrible tragedy. One is a revenge-obsessed widower whose eternity hangs in the balance, and the other is the heavy-hearted mediator assigned the awesome burden of deciding that eternity's fate. Together, within the confines of a mediation hearing, both will go on a journey and discover that the power and endurance of the human heart can transcend worlds, and that, with hope, lost loves can sometimes be found again.

226 pages, Paperback

First published May 9, 2013