The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell

Wall Street Journal and New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni’s coming-of-age story is, according to Booklist, “a novel that, if it doesn’t cross entirely over into John Irving territory, certainly nestles in close to the border.”

Sam Hill always saw the world through different eyes. Born with red pupils, he was called “Devil Boy” or Sam “Hell” by his classmates; “God’s will” is what his mother called his ocular albinism. Her words were of little comfort, but Sam persevered, buoyed by his mother’s devout faith, his father’s practical wisdom, and his two other misfit friends.

Sam believed it was God who sent Ernie Cantwell, the only African American kid in his class, to be the friend he so desperately needed. And that it was God’s idea for Mickie Kennedy to storm into Our Lady of Mercy like a tornado, uprooting every rule Sam had been taught about boys and girls.

Forty years later, Sam, a small-town eye doctor, is no longer certain anything was by design—especially not the tragedy that caused him to turn his back on his friends, his hometown, and the life he’d always known. Running from the pain, eyes closed, served little purpose. Now, as he looks back on his life, Sam embarks on a journey that will take him halfway around the world. This time, his eyes are wide open—bringing into clear view what changed him, defined him, and made him so afraid, until he can finally see what truly matters.

Winner of Suspense Magazine’s Crimson Scribe Award.

Robert Dugoni is the multimillion-copy bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite Series, including My Sister’s Grave, Her Final Breath, In the Clearing, The Trapped Girl, and Close to Home. He has twice been a finalist for the International Thriller Award and was the winner of the 2015 Nancy Pearl Award for Fiction. A two-time finalist for the Harper Lee Award for Legal Fiction, Dugoni is also the New York Times bestselling author of the David Sloane Series, which includes The Jury Master, Wrongful Death, Bodily Harm, Murder One, and The Conviction. His stand-alone novel The 7th Canon was a finalist for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award and won the Spotted Owl award for the best novel in the Northwest, and his nonfiction exposé, The Cyanide Canary (with Joseph Hilldorfer), was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year selection.