James Kier is a jerk. A cutthroat businessman who can't see beyond his own interest, his motto is "eat, or be eaten."
Over the years, he has not only offended but done real damage to countless of his associates. So when his obituary is printed prematurely due to a misidentification, there is an outpouring of glee and rejoicing in the online comments on the story.
As Kier reads and reflects on them — and realizes that the person he hurt the worst is the only one to come to his defense — he sets out to right some wrongs and to try to change his legacy.
But as the drama unfolds against the backdrop of the Christmas season, Kier finds it is not that easy.
This is the story of Richard Paul Evans' latest novel, "The Christmas List" (Simon & Schuster, $19.99). And if it sounds like the story has overtones of Ebenezer Scrooge and "The Christmas Carol," that is no accident. One of the Evans' family Christmas traditions is to see a local production of the Dickens classic.
"It always thrills me to see the change that overcomes Scrooge as he goes from a dull, tightfisted miser to a penitent 'giddy-as-a-schoolboy' man with love in his heart. I wanted to write a story that explored that same kind of redemption."
Kier, however, finds that sometimes it's too late; some things can't be undone. "He sets out to change his legacy, but he finds he has to change as a person. There's a big difference in that," says Evans.
"The real meat of the story is that in the end, redemption and forgiveness come through grace. You can't earn forgiveness; you can't even earn love. It's incorrect to think that if you are good enough, you will get God's love. The truth is, God will love you anyway."
You have to work; you have to forgive others and yourself. But in the end, "God's love is a gift to us all," he says.
"The Christmas List" is the 14th novel from Evans, who broke on the scene with "The Christmas Box" in 1993. Of all those books, this one is probably the most overtly Christmas since "The Christmas Box," he says.
Although the New York Times has dubbed him "the king of Christmas fiction," most of his books have not been all that Christmasy. "For a time, I deliberately tried to stay away from Christmas, because I didn't want to be known as just a Christmas writer."
But his books have been feel-good stories released at Christmastime, and since the success of "The Christmas Box," which has become a huge publishing phenomenon, author after author has jumped into the Christmas genre.
Each of Evans' books has appeared on the New York Times Bestsellers list. Several have been made into television movies. They have been translated into 18 languages and sold more than 13 million copies worldwide.
"I think that at the core of all my books is the importance of love and the power of hope to transform life and give it real meaning. That's what I hope people will take away from 'The Christmas List,' too."
In 1997, Evans also started the Christmas Box Foundation, which built the Christmas Box House as a shelter for abused and neglected children. There are now Christmas Box Houses in Salt Lake City, Moab and Vernal, and one is under construction in Ogden. The foundation is also exploring sites for houses in other parts of the United States and in China.
Of that success, Evans says, "The material achievements of 'The Christmas Box' will never convey its true success, the lives it has changed, the families brought closer together, the mothers and fathers who suddenly understand the pricelessness of their children's fleeting childhood."
He has come back to Christmas this time, he says, "because I find that as I grow older, the season means even more to me. I love Christmas and its true gifts, the ones of family and friends and giving of ourselves, as well as the deeper messages of God's love. Some of my deepest joys come at Christmastime. Things seem more simple, more real. I love the traditions, I love the music, I love the family interaction. The older I get, the more I hold on to those things."
He hopes that readers of this book "will create their own Christmas lists. In fact, we put a place in the back of the book where you can do that. I'd love to hear stories of people asking themselves who they need to be forgiven by and going out to try to make it right."
People who do that, he says, may find out with James Kier that it is not easy, that some people don't want to forgive. "But it's irrelevant what they want or don't want. It really has nothing to do with them and everything to do with you."
Evans remembers an assignment he had in seventh grade, when his English teacher assigned the class to write their own obituaries. While he doesn't remember what his said, he does remember that he died in first place in the final lap of the Daytona 500. At the time, being a writer was far down on the list of occupations he thought he would ever hold.
He has, from time to time, thought of that exercise. Now, rather than being known for going out in a fiery crash, he'd much rather be remembered for "being a good father, a good husband, a good man. I'd like to be known as someone who wrote books that became a piece of someone's life. There are books that stay with you forever, that become a part of who you are. I think of books like 'Old Yeller' and 'Where the Red Fern Grows' that I read as a youngster. They became infused into my thought processes." To be able to do that for someone else would be the ultimate achievement, he says.
Meanwhile, he's on to his next project. It will be a series of books, he says, centered around a man who has lost everything and decides to walk across America. "We're going to go to two books a year. I'm the kind of person who has to be doing seven things at once, but earlier this year, I ended up with high blood pressure, sleep apnea, diabetes … a whole raft of health problems. So I made a huge life decision. Everything goes but my family and my writing. As I've had more time to write, I've found that more doors have opened. It's an exciting time in my career."
"The Walk," which will be a seven-part series, "is really a metaphor for our own lives. No one knows exactly where he is going, but we all have to get there."
e-mail: carma@desnews.com