Come Again

When Ray Cass, a successful advertising executive and lapsed Catholic, begs God to save his dying daughter's life, his prayer is so persuasive, God answers it under one condition: Ray must promote the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. A taut, twisted thrill ride takes Ray from his high-octane world of crafting slick messages selling glamorous products to creating a communications package for the most important marketing campaign in history. A timeless, yet contemporary Jesus inspires Ray to rekindle his moribund faith. Marked for death by the anti-Christ, Ray risks his life to complete his mission and fulfill his promise.

Come Again is a novel about inspiration, belief and free will. The story revolves around the evolution of a successful, wise-ass, worldly adman, Ray Cass, who has blamed God for the death of his wife and the terminal illness about to claim his daughter, Melissa. Ray's plea for her life is answered, but at a price: he must promote the Second Coming. As he rolls up his sleeves to plan and create the most important marketing plan in history, Ray is faced with the eternal choice of mankind: What do you believe? As the elements of the campaign (ads, commercials, billboards, social media, etc.) are created and produced, Ray is forced to defend his work against attacks by a skeptical media, radical televangelists, evangelicals, even the Catholic Church. Ray is marked for death by the anti-Christ, and finds support from two priests: one who works for the Archbishop of Chicago; the other who ministers to the disenfranchised in a poorer section of the city. Yet, at the root of all the action, Ray is forced to examine his free will and respond from his heart.

Rick Novak has held a number of positions in major advertising and marketing agencies, such as J. Walter Thompson and companies including Playboy and Sears. At Playboy, he created and directed major promotions for the magazine division. Novak began as a recording artist/songwriter with the Sidewalk Skipper Band on Capitol Records. He has had articles published in Chicago Magazine. He is the father of three and resides in Chicago.