The 13th Step (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798349496899)

In this final installment of the Hank Pressman MD psychological suspense series, Hank wakes in the hospital with no idea of how he got there. Forced to deal with his alcoholism at last, he attends treatment, returns to AA and builds new friendships with two fellow alcoholics. One is Andy, a man who has lost all that is important to him but still finds a way to be kind and hopeful.The other is Elaine, a woman who is lonely since the death of her husband and abandonment by her only daughter. She is looking for happiness where ever she can find it. The three band together to somehow find a new way to live.

When her estranged daughter, Wendy, and her young son come back into Elaine's life, she looks to Hank and Andy to help them all adjust. Andy, estranged from his own family, becomes an unlikely role model for Hank, who has never had a family of his own. But Wendy is pursued by her abusive husband who eventually catches up with her and demands that she and thir son leave with him. In the struggle that follows, Hank is shot and Wendy and her son are taken captive by the enraged husband.

Hank recovers with Elaine's help and they try to support each other while waitng for word about Wendy. After finally hearing from her, they make a desperte attemp to rescue her and her son. Disasterously, Wendy and her husband both die in the attempt and Elaine and Hank are left to care for their son, Sam. In spite of their mutual grief and pain, Hank and Elaine work together to rebuild thair lives and to give Sam the life he deserves. Hank now has the family he never thought he wanted. To his surprise, a family is just what he needed.