Travis McKinley's life has drifted sideways. His job, his marriage, even his children all feel disconnected and distant. Has he really accomplished nothing of consequence in his life? One Christmas Day, Travis plays a round of golf and finds himself for the first time in the zone--playing like a pro. In astonishingly short order, Travis is catapulted into the PGA Senior Open at Pebble Beach, where he advances to the final round. And while his wife, his children, and a live television audience watch, a miracle takes place that changes Travis, and his family, forever. Think of this short novel by best-selling thriller writer Patterson (Hide and Seek, LJ 12/95) and journalist de Jonge as a cross between It's a Wonderful Life and a masculine version of Sleeping Beauty. On Christmas Day, Travis McKinley is playing golf when suddenly he acquires perfect vision for the putt. In a zone, he plays brilliant golf and misses Christmas dinner with his family, where things are already rocky. The wife he adores wants to leave him, and he doesn't know why, although it may be because working 30 years in an advertising job he hates has strangled his growth and enthusiasm. When he's fired, he is liberated to see whether he really can play professional golf. Travis qualifies for the Professional Golfers Association Senior Tour, and it changes him and his family forever. Buy this for all the middle-aged male golfers who still have the spark of a dream left in them, as well as for those who've given up.?Marylaine Block, St. Ambrose Univ. Lib., Davenport, Iowa Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. In the wake of John Feinstein's best-selling A Good Walk Spoiled (1994), golf books, many of them bad, have flooded the marketplace. Mystery author Patterson ( Jack and Jill , et al.) and coauthor de Jonge add a new twist by melding a golf story onto a sentimental Christmas fable. The resulting plot is sort of Rocky Does the Senior Tour with just a hint of It's a Wonderful Life , golf version: when Travis McKinley misses Christmas dinner because he can't stop making birdies, the underachieving copywriter's life seems on the verge of unraveling; when he's fired a week later and decides to try to qualify for the Senior Tour, his wife starts thinking divorce. Imagine what would have happened if George Bailey had left home to build bridges. He would have missed the wife and kids, right? And so does Travis, even as he begins to beat his heroes Trevino, Nicklaus, and Floyd. If you've guessed that the miracle on the seventeenth green has as much to do with family as golf, you've also guessed that our Travis doesn't miss Christmas dinner the second time around. Will this silly, blatantly commercial attempt to sell sentiment and golf wind up under thousands of Christmas trees this year? Probably. Will the publicity produce library demand? Probably. Buy as few as possible and hope that gimmick-hungry writers give up on golf. Bill Ott "A fast-moving golf fantasy." ( Publishers Weekly ) " Miracle on the 17th Green is...where miracles can happen to those who learn to dream again." ( Calgary Sun Chris Nelson ) "Even if you don't know a birdie from a putter you can still enjoy this sweet tale of a middle-aged golfer's extraordinary blossoming." ( The Evening Post (Wellington) Nichol Ruth ) "This is a hopeful little gem, and you don't even have to like golf to enjoy it." ( BookReporter.com ) "Entertaining." ( Kirkus Reviews ) "A cross between It's a Wonderful Life and a masculine version of Sleeping Beauty ." ( Library Journal ) "Patterson and coauthor de Jonge add a new twist by melding a golf story onto a sentimental Christmas fable. The resulting plot is sort of Rocky Does the Senior Tour with just a hint of It's a Wonderful Life ." ( BookList Bill Ott ) James Patterson has had more New York Times bestsellers than any other writer, ever, according to Guinness World Records . Since his first novel won the Edgar Award in 1976, James Patterson's books have sold more than 170 million copies. He is the author of the Alex Cross novels , the most popular detective series of the past twenty-five years, including Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider . Mr. Patterson also writes the bestselling Women's Murder Club novels, set in San Francisco, and the top-selling New York detective series of all time, featuring Detective Michael Bennett. He writes full-time and lives in Florida with his family. Peter de Jonge is the author of Shadows Still Remain and has coauthored three New York Times bestsellers with James Patterson. He has been a reporter for the Associated Press and a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine . His work has appeared in Best American Sports Writing , National Geographic , Harper's Bazaar , Details , and Manhattan, Inc . He lives in New York City.