Doug Cooper, author of Outside In, on tour April/May 2014

About Outside In

Hardcover: 253 pages

Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press (August 13, 2013)

From Memorial Day until the student workers and tourists leave in the fall, the island community of Put-In-Bay, Ohio, thrives on alcohol, drugs, sexual experimentation, and any other means of forgetting responsibilities. To Brad Shepherd–recently forced out of his job as a junior high math teacher after the overdose death of a student–it’s exactly the kind of place he’s looking for.

Allured by the comfort and acceptance of the hedonistic atmosphere, Brad trades his academic responsibilities and sense of obligation for a bouncer’s flashlight and a pursuit of the endless summer. With Cinch Stevens, his new best friend and local drug dealer, at his side, Brad becomes lost in a haze of excess and instant gratification filled with romantic conquests, late-night excursions to special island hideaways, and a growing drug habit. Not even the hope from a blossoming relationship with Astrid, a bold and radiant Norwegian waitress, nor the mentoring from a mysterious mandolin player named Caldwell is enough to pull him out of his downward spiral. But as Labor Day approaches, the grim reality of his empty quest consumes him. With nowhere left to run or hide, Brad must accept that identity cannot be found or fabricated, but emerges from within when one has the courage to let go.

A look at one man’s belated coming of age that’s equally funny, earnest, romantic, and lamenting, Doug Cooper’s debut novel explores the modern search for responsibility and identity, showing through the eyes of Brad Shepherd how sometimes, we can only come to understand who we truly are by becoming the person we’re not.

“Rarely does an author capture the frenzied descent into drug and alcohol abuse as Doug Cooper in his tumultuous novel Outside In. A story of disillusion drowned in excess, tempered by the decisions we make to survive another day. A searing debut. — Stephen Jay Schwartz, Los Angeles Times bestselling author of Boulevard and Beat

“Outside In takes readers on a wild ride with the final destination being a rediscovered sense of self.” — Colleen Hoover, author of the New York Times bestseller Slammed

“This modern take on finding oneself shows readers what can happen when you completely lose control and become someone you are not. It reminds us all of Shakespeare’s council, ‘To thine own self be true.'”–Weldon Long, author of the New York Times bestseller The Power of Consistency

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

About Doug Cooper

DOUG COOPER has traveled to more than twenty countries on five continents and has held jobs in service, teaching, and business. He now lives and writes in Las Vegas. Outside In is his first novel.

Connect with Doug on Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram @dougiecoop