The Cleaner — Ryan Potter

Spinks Webb is thirty-four years old, lives in his widowed father's basement, and suffers from a fear of leaving his hometown that he blames on his ex-fiancee, a woman who broke up with him twelve years ago. Some might call Spinks a loser, but the man has heart, and he also has a unique talent. Turns out Spinks Webb can consume vast amounts of food in short periods of time, hard-boiled eggs and hot dogs in particular.

With the help of his best friend and business partner Danny Fleck, Spinks quickly hones his gorging skills and becomes the talk of his blue-collar Michigan town as Danny, an amateur filmmaker, captures it all on video for a future documentary. Danny eventually encourages Spinks to go for the World Series of competitive eating and compete for a spot in the Nathan's Famous International July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest in Brooklyn, New York. Of course, numerous roadblocks stand between Spinks and Brooklyn, two of which include mending his broken heart and beating his irrational fear of travel, and to conquer those he'll need all the help from Danny that he can get.

THE CLEANER is a heartfelt and humorous novel about the power of friendship and its ability to create even the most unlikely hero."