The Hitchhiker

By: T.T. Rider

Narrated by: Eden Gabay

After a grueling week in Boise, tech industry veteran and car enthusiast Steve Kova begins the long drive home to Seattle, alone, restless, and nursing the quiet ache of a life that no longer feels like his own.

When he spots a mysterious stranger walking along the highway in a tailored suit and carrying a chained briefcase, Steve does something reckless: he stops.

The man calls himself John, a hitchhiker with old-world manners and no clear past. What begins as a simple favor becomes a surreal road trip across the desolate highways of the American West, through ghost towns, midnight diners, and dangerous encounters that blur the line between coincidence and fate.

As the miles pass, Steve is forced to confront the wreckage of his own choices: a failing marriage, lost ambitions, and a war-scarred past he’s tried to forget. Yet the hitchhiker seems to know more than he should—and by the time they reach Los Angeles, nothing about the journey, or about Steve himself, will ever be the same.

The Hitchhiker is a tense, soulful road novel about redemption, midlife reckoning, and the mysterious strangers who lead us back to ourselves.

©2025, 2026 Vladimir Yangurskiy (P)2026 Vladimir Yangurskiy