The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell

The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell (2018) is a coming-of-age novel chronicling the life of protagonist Sam Hill, who is born with a genetic condition causing his irises to appear red. From his early years, Sam faces ostracization and bullying, but his deeply Catholic mother insists the condition is God’s will. As Sam makes the hard journey toward self-acceptance, he wrestles with questions of fate and faith. The novel was named book of the year in 2018 by Suspense Magazine.

Author Robert Dugoni is most well-known for his award-winning Tracey Crosswhite legal thriller series, including In the Clearing (2016), and his equally popular Keera Duggan series, beginning with Her Deadly Game (2023). He has also written several standalone books, including The World Played Chess (2021). He was inspired to write this novel after reading a true story about a boy with red eyes who was denied admission to a Catholic school in Australia. However, in the author’s note at the end of the novel, Dugoni explains the book was also partly inspired by his own childhood, as he had a younger brother with Down syndrome who also faced discrimination.

Plot Summary

Samuel James Hill is born on March 15, 1957, in Burlingame, California, with a rare condition called ocular albinism causing his irises to look red. Sam’s mother Madeline declares him blessed and refuses to accept his unique condition as anything but a miracle from above. From Sam’s first steps to his high school graduation, Madeline carefully documents the milestones of his “extraordinary life.” He begins his childhood happily in the safety of his parents’ unconditional love and acceptance; however, once becoming aware of his eyes and how others view him as different, Sam is reluctant to share Madeline’s optimism about his anomaly. At his mother’s insistence, Sam attends Catholic school and soon finds himself with a new name, “Devil Boy”—and after school bully David Bateman targets him, Sam begins to see his eye color as a curse, not a blessing. When Ernie Cantwell, the only Black student at the school, befriends Sam on the playground, the two form an inseparable bond that will last into adulthood. Sam suffers under the strict rule of the school nuns, especially Sister Beatrice, but he finds an unlikely ally in new girl Mickie Kennedy when they both stand up to the school’s harsh authoritarianism. David savagely beats Sam and is expelled from school, but even after Sam is rid of his torturer, there remain emotional scars.

Sam, Ernie, and Mickie navigate the turbulent waters of adolescence before separating into two different high schools. Ernie excels in sports, but Sam flounders in finding his purpose. Having mostly shaken off the scorn of his early years, Sam still finds himself on the fringes of social life and dedicates his time to journalism and academics. He makes all the normal teenage mistakes as he looks for acceptance in his peer group. He falls for Donna, an older girl who is set on using Sam for her physical gratification. Through it all, Mickie remains a loyal friend to Sam, though she criticizes his injudicious romance. As high school graduation approaches, Sam is devastated not to be named valedictorian, but he moves forward with plans to attend Stanford University with Ernie. Then, tragedy strikes as Sam’s father has a stroke, rendering him physically unable to work, and Sam must rethink all his plans. Delaying college for one year, he takes over the management of his father’s pharmacy while his mother cares for his father at a nursing home. Finding it increasingly difficult to believe in his mother’s religion, Sam renounces the Catholic faith.

In 1989, Sam and Mickie are co-owners of the pharmacy, which is now an eye clinic where both work as ophthalmologists. While Mickie remains unmarried, Ernie has married and started a family after retiring early from a career in the NFL, and he now manages the family technology business. Sam is in a relationship with a woman named Eva, who he discovers has been unfaithful.

One day, a girl named Daniela Bateman enters the clinic with a detached retina due to what seems like a violent injury. Immediately recognizing the name Bateman, Sam soon learns the girl is the daughter of his former abuser David Bateman, who is now abusing his daughter and caused the damage to her eye. After a strong earthquake jolts the city and kills Eva, Sam is left wondering what to do with his life. He contacts authorities about Daniela’s injury, and soon a hearing is set to address allegations of David’s abuse. Sam intervenes and saves Daniela’s vision, but his help for her mother comes too late as David murders his ex-wife Trina and turns the gun on himself. Distraught and guilt-ridden, Sam runs for the remote jungles of Costa Rica where he spends 10 years serving with a medical mission organization. There, he meets a boy named Fernando with ocular albinism, causing Sam to rethink his negative attitude toward his eye color. Sam discards his colored contacts and vows to change his life.

Sam is summoned home with news from Mickie that his mother Madeline is ill. She has end-stage breast cancer and only a few months to live. Sam and Mickie take his parents to the healing springs of Lourdes, France, and though there is no miraculous physical healing for his parents, Sam experiences healing for all his guilt and pain and rediscovers his faith. His parents pass away six weeks apart, and Sam decides to adopt Fernando. Mickie reveals she has infertility after a hysterectomy at an early age, but Sam still longs to be with her forever. They live as a family with Fernando who attends the same Catholic school, Madeline having paid for his tuition before her death.

The narrative conveys Sam’s life through circular flashbacks in small, episodic moments like those of an album. Each time Sam reaches into the past for a memory, it provides context for the decisions he makes in his life in the present.