This was the book I finished reading in Kota Bharu. My second Ahern's novel, this is actually a Christmas story. The central character, Lou [Aloysius was the full name] was an extremely busy man who was successful in his life but he was not satisfied with what he had. Isn't money is the root of all evil? He had already ignored his wife, kids and family members as he was to occupied with his work. One day, he met a beggar by the name of Gabe and amused by Gabe's talent of identifying people just by looking at their shoes, Gabe was employed as one of the staff working the mail room. He did not know that Gabe was, I think, some sort of an angel as he one day gave Lou magic pills. By taking the pills, Lou would be able to duplicate himself thus enabled him to be at two places at one time. It was a blessing in a way because he managed to make many people happy as he was needed simultaneously at the same time by different group of people. And the pills should be the gift as suggested by the title of the book.Nevertheless, the number of pills was limited and he could not be dependent on them. When in the end, when he was involved in a very bad car accident on a Christmas eve, he took the very last pill and only had the chance to tell his family members that he had been a very bad person and he loved them all very much, before he died. Another sad ending, similar to Ahern's first novel, which made Christmas did not sound that enjoyable.
I am now already about 10% of Ahern's third book, hoping for a better ending.
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