The Life and Death of Terry Dodd

Joann Shea has lived next door to Terry Dodd all her life. To everyone else he's just another next-door neighbor, another drunk in Los Angeles, another human in California. But he's different, and fourteen-year-old Joann is the only one who seems to think so.

But when Joann's dad is hospitalized after a disastrous explosion on the interstate, Uncle Barry comes to take care of the family affairs. Joann is determined to keep her mother's domineering brother from taking complete control of her family. She discovers all too soon his answer to everything is violence.

Will Joann be able to find a way to get to Dad before it's too late? Or will Uncle Barry succeed in tearing her family apart? All seems lost, until the drunk next door proves to be more than just a drunk, and Joann learns that sometimes even the most unlikely people are the most extraordinary.