The Deadender is a novel by Alex de Schweinitz that leads the reader through fast-paced pages rolling out Eli Cochran's extraordinary experiences as his life and mind spin out of control. By the time Eli leaves high school he is in the grip of undiagnosed Bi-polar Disorder and well on the way to alcoholism. In a blur of college classes, lost jobs, bar fights, DWIs, violent arrests and stints in psych wards, he somehow hangs onto academic ambitions. And at age 34, a miracle occurs; he stops drinking and gets a second chance at life. What he does with that chance is a story of the undefeatable human spirit.