As life would have it, even those successful and satisfied in our current world tend to worry obsessively about the next.

We’re talking about the fear of death — that journey into the unknown. One common antidote is to joke about it. Take the perpetual death-worrier, Woody Allen, whose character Boris from his movie "Love and Death" returns from the dead. When asked what it’s like, he says, “You know the chicken at Trevski’s? It’s worse!”

Woody is not alone. Actress Amanda Peet revealed her fear on a memorable interview several years ago with Stephen Colbert. Anthony Hopkins says he thinks about death and dying every day.

Author Tom Covino, in his own way, is also obsessed with the subject of death. Having come from a background of not believing in God, he searched for God desperately wanting to find the truth about life: why he was born, what happens to him when he dies, and everything in between.

Rather than jump on the societal bandwagon of fear and fascination, he has written a most enlightening — and entertaining — book, "Dear God, My Life Is in Jeopardy," that captures the stereotypical thinking about the next life but puts it in a spiritual context to help readers find comfort and peace. The book opens as a fictional tale, then shifts to the author’s analysis of the story and his thoughts about connecting with God.

Covino’s vehicle for writing about the fear of death is, of all places, the TV game show "Jeopardy." But there’s no Alex Trebek. Not even three contestants. And the questions don’t come in the form of answers.

There’s just one contestant, Evelyn Dawson, a former successful business executive with a wonderful family and seemingly all the gifts life has to offer. In the audience are some of the world’s most famous people — celebrities, entertainers, athletes, all there to ask Evelyn questions like you’d find on any game show: Tom Hanks, LeBron James, Oprah Winfrey, Billy Joel, Barbra Streisand, Paul McCartney, Matthew McConaughey, and many more.

It’s a version of “This is Your Life, Evelyn,” but with an incredible twist.

As Covino aptly says, the beginning of the book will make you wonder, the middle will shock you, and the ending may cause you to re-evaluate what you thought were the right answers to some of life’s deepest questions.

But even before that, writes Covino, we must ask the right questions. The first step toward understanding death is peeling back the mask of doubt, fear and confusion, admitting what we do not know.

Trouble is, people are their own worst enemies, defaulting in their leisure time to the mass media, viewing shows and listening to music that, while poignant and insightful, cast uncertainty in their thinking and keep them from finding the truth.

There is a room called the ‘hiding spot,” writes Covino. “Our personal secrets are kept there, including our own serious game of Hide and Seek with death.”

Covino believes the real secret is connecting all the spiritual dots. Using Evelyn’s journey as the cornerstone for his examination, he does a superb job of understanding her vulnerabilities — and does it with great compassion.

While it’s clear where Covino is coming from, he doesn’t beat his points over the readers’ heads with his spiritual convictions, but rather subtly yet persuasively enlightens readers on the importance of faith.

In "Dear God, My Life Is in Jeopardy," Tom Covino has given us a thought-provoking, emotionally charged and eye-opening work that makes heavy use of popular culture to make heavy points about our belief systems. A large part of his message is not to tell readers “how” but rather inform them of the “why,” and then invite them to explore their connection with God at their own comfort levels.

In his continuing use of song lyrics to show parallels to the teachings of the Bible, the author refers to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” and notes there are only two paths to travel — a wide gate and a narrow gate — as man searches for the truth about what happens when we die. The narrow gate, says Jesus, is the only way to heaven, for it is Jesus Himself.

Quoting the words of Jesus, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

And there you have it. “Whatever questions you might have concerning your beliefs,” he adds, “if you pick up the Bible and let go of anything and everything that you have been told before, God will reveal the truth to you.”