By: Jaryd Roberts
The book starts off with an
introduction of Ed Kennedy, a low-life, under-aged cab driver who is without a
doubt in love with his best friend Audrey and has a coffee drinking dog named
The Doorman. It begins in a bank in a tattered Australian town. Ed becomes an
unexpected hero when a clumsy teenager tries to pull off a bank robbery. Ed and
his friends Audrey, Marvin (Marv for short), and Ritchie begin hassling the kid
before he tries to make his getaway in Marv’s beat up out-of-date car. On his
way out, the teenager drops the gun he was recently threatening the cashier
with. The car ends up not starting and Ed was able to step in. Off his first
instinct, he grabbed the gun and chased the perpetrator, stopping him in his
tracks while someone called the police. Ed is announced a hero and is praised.
He brushes it off and just believes he was at the right place at the right
time. Soon after, Ed receives a playing card in the mail, an Ace of Diamonds.
On it were three locations with times beside them, no instructions, no names,
just locations and times. Ed chooses to go these locations at the designated
time. There he finds three different tasks In which he has been sent to
accomplish. First, he must help a family where the father is abusive, second,
he must befriend an elderly lady and comfort her, third, he must show a young
girl to be more confident and believe in herself. Ed’s confidence grows more a
more as he completes each task. After he completes his first set of tasks, he
receives another card in the mail, except this time he expects it. This time it
is the Ace of Clubs. His next few sets of challenges are sent on the Ace of
Hearts and Ace of Spades and they include:
1. 1. Go to a
run-down church that needs help
2. 2, Buy an ice
cream cone for a women who can’t have her own
3. 3. Help two
brothers at war realize their love for each other
4. 4. Buy
Christmas lights for a family that cannot afford them
5. 5. Tell his
mother that he accepts her boyfriend
6. 6. Go to a
theatre with no business
7. 7. Talk to one
of his friends in a river
8. 8. Help Marv build up courage to meet his daughter
9. 9. Let Audrey
admit her love for him
The last card that is delivered to him is a Joker, except
this time, it’s his own address on the card. Ed realizes he was just used in an
experiment to see if an average, unsuccessful person could perform tasks and
give to hope to the world. Ed always thought of himself as nothing, that there
was always someone better than him. He is able to build up his confidence and
by the end of the book, he is strong enough to take criticism and he is able to
realize his potential to change lives. He is also able to get Audrey to confess
her love for him and that she is going to move in with him.
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