The Tunnel opens in New Orleans on a March evening when author Tripp Friedler takes a call from his 21-year-old son, Henry, who is midspan on the Mississippi River Bridge and too scared to jump.
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What follows is an elaborate game of chase across the United States as Tripp and his wife, Heidi, spare no expense to get Henry the treatment he requires but resists. From New Orleans to Seattle, from Massachusetts to San Diego, Tripp and Heidi criss-cross the country depositing and rescuing Henry from the shrinking number of facilities willing to accept him.
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The Tunnel advances from one unforgettable scene to the next as Tripp and Heidi watch their son, Henry, go from being a nuisance to an undesirable to an untouchable. His depression deepens to bipolar disorder with psychotic breaks. You'll hold your breath every paragraph, waiting for what happens next.
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Throughout the wild journey, Tripp Friedler exposes the flaws in the social fabric when it comes to dealing with mental illness. He fumes at the educational system, rages at the legal system, is shocked by the medical system and wonders what people without means do when faced with this wall of indifference.\
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At the heart of The Tunnel is the triangle of Henry, Heidi and Tripp, surrounded by the larger family, siblings Patti and Kate, aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins, inlaws, coworkers and friends, all of whom try to help Henry, along with therapists, clinics and counselors. The Tunnel is a book about what holds a family together and what tears a family apart. It's a journey you'll never forget.