Now, why would a college freshman from Virginia want to stake out a sporting goods store, map out his burglary and proceed to break-in when he doesn’t need the money?
Tom Wagner is a “freelancer or hobbyist criminal” and as he puts it, he’s doing it simply because
“I can. That’s the only reason I need.”
Bored with the classes in college,
“Classes were mostly lame, filled with freshman overachievers. Many were so avid to make an impression on professors it was embarrassing to watch. Some were actually pretty smart; others should avoid the expense and just move home to work in gas stations and beauty parlors. Homework was easy. Much of the assigned work was easier than high school. Humanities and writing? Boring (Editor: Ouch!!!) Accounting? Nearly indecipherable as the TA was Japanese or Chinese or something like that. Calculus? A re-run of senior year.”
except for “Theory of Knowledge”, which had lots of questions, engaging discussions and open debates, Tom is quite anti-social because he suffers from a painful tragedy.
During his junior year, he came home to find his mother dead in a pool of blood and her wedding ring stolen. The felon wasn’t caught, they had no counselling or other support so Tom and his father just moved on with life…
Tom’s father drowns his grief in alcohol and neither father nor son could talk to each other about it. Tom managed to get a place in college but since the trauma of his mother’s death is pushed onto the back burner, Tom is not really “living”…
His poor, nice room-mate is forced to move out because Tom would NEVER talk to him. His reason? He wanted to be alone and also, he didn’t want any questions when he brought back the spoils from his break-ins.
Unfortunately, Tom is caught red-handed by the night watchman named Elijah King.
And instead of the usual “I’m going to hand your sorry ass over to the police”, Elijah strikes a deal with him -
“Tom, I’m going to give you a huge break here. But you have to learn a lesson about life. If you learn the lesson, I won’t turn you in. If you fail, then I turn you over to the police. Simple enough?”
Tom agrees and starts to help clean up the mess he made when he ran away from Elijah. Elijah starts telling him about the 3 men he’d helped in life i.e. a millionaire, a lawyer and a man who runs a mission for the homeless.
In a meaningful discussion with Elijah, Tom is drawn to this strange old man who wants to help him find out what he wants in life. Tom agrees to meet Elijah again for another two nights – he will get back his driver’s licence and the promise to let him go.
Elijah also gives him a coin with the letters EK on one side and G2G on the other.
On the third night, Tom meets a locked door and the night patrol who threatens to lock him up – worried that Elijah has a stroke, he persuades the police officers to call up the owner.
Guess what? The owner does NOT have a night watchman and neither does he know of anyone named Elijah King.
Puzzled, Tom IS sure he’s not going mad and decides to see the “Theory of Knowledge” professor, Dr. Summerlin, about it. The professor encourages Tom to follow the clues Elijah has given him if he really wants to find him.
Thus begins Tom’s adventure in search of Elijah, the people he meets, the opportunities that open up before him, the meaning of life he finds and finally, the LAST person he dreams of ever meeting…
“Elijah’s Coin” is a fast-paced, adventure-type book which is a real page-turner. Not only was I curious about WHO Elijah King is, I also wanted to find out the meaning of EK and G2G.
I’d DEFINITELY recommend this book to young boys. Usually bored, restless, cynical and pessimistic about many things in life, teenaged and college-aged guys may find this book right up their alley.
Who knows, just like Tom, you may just find out what YOU want out of life after reading this book.
Get it from Amazon:
Hardcover: 128 pages
Publisher: A & N Publishing; 1st edition (February 1, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0982073542
ISBN-13: 978-0982073544
Similar Posts:
- REVIEW: The Star That Fell by Karen Hales and Cliff Wright
- Burger King or hàn bǎo wáng (汉堡 王) in China
- REVIEW: Courage in Patience by Beth Fehlbaum
- He reads his first book!
- REVIEW: The Trucks are Stuck by Judy Sierra and Will Hillenbrand
