How To Kill Rudy

Rudy Sleighmaker is a quiet man who works in a small town office. He finds a book that tells the story of his own life and predicts that someone will try to kill him, his wife, and his boss. Scared and confused, Rudy kills the wrong person by mistake, and his life falls apart. Now in prison, Rudy can't escape the memories of Jack Jessup and his wife Ramona, who haunt him like ghosts from his past.

Rudy Slaymaker, who reads every Mace Hacker mystery novel, acquires one in which Hacker writes that a man named Rudy will soon be the victim of a murder plotted by his wife, Ramona, and his boss, Jack. Because his real-life wife and boss are named Ramona and Jack, and all of Hacker’s stories eventually come true, a terrified Rudy takes steps he hopes will prevent the two from killing him.

This psychological thriller revolves around Rudy Sleighmaker, a timid man in a small-town office. He's haunted by a novel that duplicates his life and foretells a murder plot involving him, his wife, and his boss. In a frenzy of fear and paranoia, he kills the wrong man, and his world shatters. Jack Jessup and Ramona, his wife, remain locked in the past, hovering like dark spectres over Rudy's prison cell.