Flying Into Limbo

About the Book

When Dr. John Williams discovers that narcotics are being diverted from St. Catherine’s Hospital, he immediately suspects that the thief is a recreational drug abuser, and most likely one of his anesthesia colleagues. While he may be partially correct, the primary culprit is a rogue physician, referred to by some as “the Magi” and by others as “Medicine Man.”

Flying into Limbo features an anesthesiologist, John Williams, and his commercial pilot wife, Nancy, their extended family, the Magi, and a cluster of desperately suffering people who converge around an imaginary anesthetic called Limbotryl. Though too late for his deceased daughter, the Magi has discovered another use for the drug, and he breaks all the rules in his pursuit of redemption. By stealing and diverting Limbotryl to those crippled by pain or disease, the Magi offers them the means by which to reclaim a fulfilling life.

However, it is not only the Magi who breaks rules and risks severe sanction. Kathy Martin elects to betray her husband with a lie in an effort to preserve her health and family life. A highly respected criminal court judge opts for the drug’s relief, breaking the law in the service of sustaining his law-and-order position. Currents of dissention ripple through marriages and families, as the decision to accept or refuse Limbotryl is weighed.

The Prologue is set in a graveyard, just weeks before the Thanksgiving holiday. There, a woman petitions her dead husband’s help in healing their daughter’s wounded marriage, believing that if all the events are known and understood, an inspiration will be forthcoming. From there, the story returns to the previous April. In the manner of a medical suspense novel, the reader follows John Williams’ search for the drug thief, as well as the struggles of suffering people to embrace or reject the seeming miracle of Limbotryl. Yet, when a parent chooses to pursue Limbotryl’s magic, a parallel drama unfolds in the untested marriage of John and Nancy Williams, focusing the conflict around issues of choice, commitment, and faith.

Ultimately, Flying into Limbo is a story of human frailty at the juncture of life-threatening illness, and the tendency to compensate by invoking control strategies. As is true in real life, each character must decide how and when to relinquish human control for faith—and whether or not their relationships can withstand that test, or perhaps even profit by such an act of surrender. In the end, this is a story of love, loss, life, redemption, courage, and above all, hope.

About the Author

Marifran Dirkes lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband, three children, two cats, and a dog. In her former life, she worked as a therapist in the Psychiatric Emergency Room of University Hospital, and as a family therapist on the Adolescent Psychiatry Unit. Presently, she volunteers at her children’s schools, teaches religious education, reads voraciously, and steals every possible moment to write.