The Book Behind Door #3

Imagine my delight and surprise as my wife and I walked the boardwalk. Several of the young folks who check for beach badges were reading books while seated at their stations. Not a cell phone in sight!

Before presenting today's mystery I'll disabuse anyone with the notion that I live somewhere that has managed to avoid succumbing to cell phone mania. No such luck. After observing books in their hands - and recovering my dropped jaw - but, before I asked some of these young people what they were reading, my wife conjectured that cell phones were probably prohibited in these jobs. Learning she was right - i.e. I don't live in a Nirvana where books take precedence over phones -  did not discourage me from my mission. Now I had to know what interested these young readers.

And when I learned of the book behind door #3, I considered spending two more hours strolling that boardwalk just to see what other mystifying discoveries were ahead. Intrigued yet? Any early guesses about the book behind door #3? Hint #1: Make it a really wild guess. Hint #2: The author of the book being read by beach badge checker #3 was not a contemporary of the authors being read by beach badge checkers #1 or #2 - Stephanie Meyers, Stephen King. Those two bestselling authors, as well as all the other authors I uncovered while doing my boardwalk survey, were predictive. The author and book behind door #3? Did I say not a contemporary of Meyers, King, et al? How about not even in the same century (21st or 20th) contemporary? Come on, don't tell me this wouldn't surprise you just a little.

I'm so confident the well known book absorbing the full attention of young beach badge checker #3 would never cross the mind of readers of this blog that a cash bonus will be paid to anyone whose guess is even close to right. Payment in English pounds, of course.