Mar 13, 2006 3 min read

They say that nothing is “for sure” except death and taxes. “They” are close, but not quite right on that statement. If you’re dead, you’re not paying any taxes at all. So what if you could choose the time of your death? And what if – once you’ve made that choice – you can never change your mind? In the new novel, “Kill Me” by Stephen White, a wealthy Colorado entrepreneur makes a brash decision that haunts him for the rest of his life.

Dr. Alan Gregory has a new patient in his office. The man is obviously very rich, and he makes some unusual demands. Counseling sessions are on the patient’s terms and he wants two appointments, both always the same day. It seems that the man has a lot on his mind and he needs someone to bear witness.The patient always loved risk. He’s surfed Big Waves. He skied back trails and mountains that few men would tackle.

On the day that he was heli-skiing with friends in the Bugaboos, he was standing on a shelf of snow, pondering his next move when the snow gave way and he tumbled down the mountain. Hurt and out of breath, he picked himself up on the bottom of the hill. Shaken but alive, he made his friends vow that if he was ever incapacitated, that they would end his life for him.

He was thinking of his brother, Conrad, who lived in New Haven, Connecticut, and who had ALS.

He was thinking of his friend, Antonio, who’d been in an underwater cave without oxygen and was now lying in a hospital bed. When the entrepreneur’s skiing-buddy, Jimmy Lee, heard the vow, he mentioned a secret group who could help the entrepreneur if the worst ever happened. Jimmy Lee knew who to call, but the matter could never be spoken aloud again.

When contacted, the group – a business, really – made one offer. For a million dollars, they would monitor the entrepreneur’s life. The moment his health crossed a pre-determined line, they would step in and end it for him. It would look accidental or natural, and his family need never know.

He paid the money. He agreed to the terms.

He didn’t know then about a son who was conceived one drunken night, fourteen years ago. He never thought he’d have a dangerous aneurysm at age thirty-something. And now someone wants to kill Dr. Gregory’s patient. No, someone has to kill him.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been as captured by a book as I was with “Kill Me”. Author Stephen White takes you for a thrilling ride in speeding cars, on cross-country flights, up high mountains and deep into cities. The narrator of the story – we’re never told his name – is a likeable guy; sarcastic and witty but scared witless by what he’s done and what is to come.

If you love a good story, one that is entirely, chillingly possible, then be sure to look for this book. “Kill Me” will thrill you to death.