Ancestry: A Novel

The journey of mind-boggling discovery begins innocently when Ron and Diana decide to submit to a DNA test to learn more about their ancestry. Diana gets her test results back in a few weeks. Ron, on the other hand, only gets a notice that the company is still working on his results. Months later Ron's test results have yet to arrive. In the interim, he notices strange things happening to him. He believes that he is under surveillance whether going to the local grocery store, having coffee at Starbucks, or a hamburger at Five Guys. Who is following him and for what he has no idea. His belief that he is being tailed grows into a paranoia that carries over into disruptions of his workplace as a beloved college professor, unnerving students and colleagues alike. Battling dreams and reality, the paranoia increases to the point that he seeks the professional help of a renown psychiatrist, only to be betrayed. Determined to get to the bottom of all of this and to confirm his true identity, Ron undertakes a suspenseful journey that leads back to his hometown of Chicago in a search for answers in his old neighborhood, which he finds gentrified beyond recognition. Seeking out old friends and acquaintances, visiting his old high school and college, and wrestling with the challenges of the police, FBI, the judicial system, and the medical and scientific establishments, he finally unearths the complex truth of his identity, a revelation with life and death consequences. Donald Spivey has authored and edited non-fiction books. "Ancestry" is his first novel.