Saving Dr. Block

“Okay,” Mike finally said. “First we need to assemble a team. Who can we absolutely trust?” He wiped his mouth with a crumpled paper napkin as he considered. “Someone fearless. Someone dedicated. Someone willing to risk his life for the mission.”
Howard hesitated.
“Stinky,” he said. “I think Stinky would help. We can count on Stinky.”
“Okay. Stinky. That makes you, me, and Stinky. Who else?”
The boys pondered silently. They went back to their desserts and finished them off. Mike slid his empty float glass forward on the counter. He took a sip of water.
“There are some advantages to a small team,” Mike said.

It’s 1963 in Kansas City, and twelve-year-old Howard Block has a lot on his mind. If being bullied in gym class every Tuesday and Thursday, an overprotective mother, and the stress of preparing for his upcoming Bar Mitzvah weren’t enough, Howard’s father has just been named in a fraudulent medical malpractice suit.
Inspired by a new movie sensation, the British secret agent James Bond, Howard recruits best friends Irwin “Stinky” Devinki and Mike Hunsacker for a crack undercover team to thwart the psychiatrist villain Chadwick Huntley and his patient /accomplice Hannah Stringer. Like 007, Howard learns there’s always a female involved, which doesn’t make the mission to save Dr. Block any easier.
This touching and often hilarious caper follows Howard’s journey to self-discovery and manhood during an era of cultural divides between Jew and Gentile, black and white, and father and son.