The Life that matters

About the Book

Ray McKenzie, who lives in a world of his own, is not successful in business, and he is a failure as a husband and father. One day he takes a journey across the Southern California desert to El Centro, the city of his birth, on a quest for answers he desperately needs to the questions burning inside him about the choices he made in his life and the choices he might have made. During his trip, Ray is suddenly joined by two passengers who appear to be a devil and an angel. Soon he is unexpectedly thrust forward into a life he has always dreamed about, that of a ballroom dancer, with an enticing companion, Gina. Then he is thrust back in time to experience again pivotal scenes with his wife, Jane, and his three children. Finally -- with his life hanging in the balance -- Ray has to choose between the lure of a glamorous new world and the redemption now made possible for him with his family

About the Author

Rick McManus enjoys painting with words. His first novel, The Climb to Eternity, published in 2000, presents an allegory about an afterlife that requires newcomers to learn and grow. In 2004 he published Rancho El Contento, a biography of his mother, a charismatic seeker of answers to life's questions. In 2007, he published his autobiography, Life As a Dance. Through dancing he found the person he always wanted to be -- someone who was confident in his abilities and place in the world. And he hopes that in dancing and in life he has learned to express some measure of harmony, rhythm, poise, and balance. Rick owns commercial real estate and lives near the ocean in La Jolla, California.