Meeting evil

John Felton, prototypical husband, father of two, and real-estate salesman, is interrupted while eating breakfast by a disturbing stranger who asks for his help with a stalled car. John's assent, an automatic if grudging gesture of politeness, quickly leads him into a string of disastrous events, including a tabloid-worthy crime spree in which he is an unwitting accomplice to robbery, kidnapping, arson, and murder. More unnerving still is the stranger's stonyfaced, near-convincing contention that each barbarous crime is an act of kindness and protectiveness.--jacket