Failing business exec hits bottom, then is guided by a friend into a  walking club that has a killer of a program. (Screenplay and Novel)

SYNOPSIS:

There's this guy, Jack, he's somewhere in his fifties, going to seed, a lady's man bought down by smokes and liquor. But he's not in a downward spiral anymore, he's shaping up for a nose-dive. He works as a corporate planner and he lives with his wife - well at least he used to. As the curtain goes up they are playing out the last hand in a sorry game. She leaves, promising divorce.

Jack's place is an up-market condo near the beach. Opposite the condo is a park,

and on that park at 5:30 each morning there is 'The Walking Club'. Jack barely

notes their existence – people walking around different circumferences of

concentric circles, all marked out with little flags and to the unearthly beat of a

strange, low pulse.

The day after his wife left him Jack is in a bar, having a liquid lunch with his

workmate, Matt. A sympathetic divorcee, Matt is a pretty big guy, younger and in

better shape than Jack. He asks if Jack isn't going to be late for an important

meeting. Jack says it's not so important and orders another round.

Jack comes in late to the meeting. He's drunk, too drunk to hide it. He blows the

meeting and does so under the nose of the company's vice-president. Jack is

sacked and for good measure assaults the vice-president. Although he hasn't quite

hit full rock bottom yet - he goes home and spends the next few days on a bender.

One morning at dawn Jack sits on his front porch. 'The Walking Club' are doing

their rounds opposite. As he drunkenly criticizes them he becomes aware that one

of their numbers is waving. It's Matt. Matt comes up and sees Jack is in a bad way,

so he enlists him into the walking club. The next day Jack is on a treadmill, being

tested by Daisy, the doctor's assistant. The doctor reports that if Jack continues on

his current course he will soon be dead. This news is a little sobering.

The next morning, although it nearly kills Jack, Matt takes him to the park. Over the next few weeks Jack improves, but without Matt’s help he knows the motivation is just not there. Then one day at the walking club he becomes aware of a good looking

woman, Caroline. She walks on a circle two out from his own. Jack asks Daisy if

he can move out to that circle. She tests him but his heart is still weak. In a few

weeks, maybe, when he has improved, a circle at a time.

Jack is now motivated. One day as he signs on at the club Jack is able to secretly check Caroline’s address. He strolls round there that night. He's spruced up, ready to introduce himself, but to his horror he finds Caroline dead, murdered. More murders within the club follow and Jack is the prime suspect. In the middle of this pressure he has to cope with his divorce, his scheming lawyer, and Matt, who he now thinks is gay.

So who is setting him up? Is it Matt? His wife? Daisy? His lawyer? His ex-boss?

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THE WALKING CLUB