Vince Van Ghost

Jack Alden is ready to see the country “from Cracker Barrel to Cracker Barrel” in his newly purchased used camper van. But to his horror – he soon finds it comes with a catch. The camper is haunted. And not only that – it’s haunted by an affable ghost named Vince who was murdered in the driver’s seat.

Jack’s terrified reaction to Vince’s presence while trying to sleep in his camper on his first night out immediately gets him in hot water with Officer Woody Martin – a local cop on patrol who puts Jack down as a crackpot and someone who needs close watching. Later the sudden appearance of Vince once again in the passenger seat causes Jack such alarm that he veers into a cow field – while being followed by Woody. Vince comes to the rescue and scares off the cop by messing with his patrol car. Woody beats a panicked retreat thinking that it’s Jack who has some kind of supernatural powers. (Throughout the story – Jack is the only one who ever actually visualizes Vince).

Gradually, Jack gets accustomed to Vince – reasoning with himself that he may be suffering from some kind of mental breakdown while adjusting to his new life on the road. But now Vince makes an appeal to Jack’s sense of decency. He says Jack is the only one who can help him save the life of his sister Michele – who is hospitalized with a rare brain disease that can only be cured by an expensive experimental surgery. The money for the operation was stolen by Vince’s ex-wife shortly before his murder. He wants Jack to get the money back, sign on as Michele’s guardian and get the surgery done before it’s too late. It’s a tall order. But Jack is unable to say no.

Vince has all the inside info to get the job done – but it requires a lot of real world resourcefulness and playacting on Jack’s part to handle all the legal manipulations. Vince’s ex-wife, Clarise, is no fool and when she loses the money and the guardianship of Michele to Jack – she goes on the warpath. She needs Michele to simply hurry up and die and Jack must be stopped – even if it takes another murder.

The re-entry of officer Woody into the investigation further complicates things as Jack finds himself up against an army of obstacles including the law, a crafty hired killer, an unassuming drug lord, and his own barely-there mother who keeps a loaded shotgun in the living room closet: All of it playing out in a race against time to save Michele – who also happens to be about his age, quite beautiful and single, a fact that hasn’t escaped him.