Dead People

Everything changed when the Stringfellows arrived on Earth and restarted the world. The bad news is that the aliens randomly chose which people to bring back to life. No rhyme or reason. From across time. The good and the bad. To take care of the more evil of these unfortunate returns, the Stringfellows have tasked certain humans with the new occupation of assassin. Following a unique and mysterious point system, the ultimate reward for their bloody work is the chance to bring back a person of their choosing. Crass and blunt, hitman Mild McMahon only wants to bring back one person: his mother. But to do this he'll have to kill some of the worst people in history. Given assignments by his talking dog and forced to team up with an unlikely assassin with a near addiction to breath mints, Mild must hunt down a murderers' row of notorious killers and hope he still has time for coffee. Praise for Douglas Rappaport's Reckoner: "Reckoner is a deftly crafted coming-of-age story... A truly compelling read from cover to cover..." - Midwest Book Review "It's a novel very relative to our times, not only for younger readers approximately the same age, and of a similar mindset to Miles', for instance, but for any contemporary readers aware of the serious situations so many people are dealing with today." - John Pahl, fiction editor for Dunes Review "[A] very touching story filled with lonely characters all in search of the same two things: love of self and love of others." - Viga Boland, Readers' Favorite "Time and again, as they read Reckoner, readers will recognize themselves tuning out what is going on in their immediate vicinity while their minds meander into other times, places and spaces... and the trip is fascinating!" - Vianvi.com DOUGLAS RAPPAPORT was originally a classically trained violinist and composer, having studied as a young man at various conservatories in the U.S. and abroad. During his college years, Douglas studied under Erick Friedman, the famed protégé of Jascha Heifetz, and after graduate work at Yale University, went on to U.S.C. where he received an Advanced Studies degree in Film and Television Scoring. He also studied at Goldsmiths College (part of the University of London), Guildhall, and London International Film School, amongst others. Concerning Douglas Rappaport's 2003 debut novel, One Day the Weatherman, Absolutewrite.com wrote: "Rappaport's work is very detail-oriented and his writing is extremely descriptive; it makes for incredible realism." His third novel Reckoner received numerous positive reviews including the Midwest Book Review and the Booklife Prize 2020. Douglas's short fiction has also earned several distinctions including an invitation to the exclusive Sirenland Writers Conference in Positano, Italy.