BOOK REVIEW –

MARCH 11, 2021 – “I wouldn’t have written ‘Model Citizen’ if I hadn’t had the fourth stroke,” Mohr recalls in a phone conversation from his home in Seattle. In 2015, Mohr learned that he has an 8-millimeter hole in his heart, which dramatically increases the odds that a blood clot will travel to his brain. Adding irony to injury: Following surgery to repair his heart, he is prescribed fentanyl. It’s not for nothing that the second part of “Model Citizen” is called “The Freelapse.” After moving with his family from San Francisco to Seattle, Mohr suffers a fourth stroke, which he describes as chillingly mundane: At home watching a John Cassavetes film one afternoon, he feels his arm go numb. Following another round of treatment, doctors tell him he’s unlikely to live past his 40s. For Mohr, it’s a reason to double down on what he’s accomplished: being a good husband and father and a dedicated writer.

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