On the Corner

On the Corner: A Novel of Lifelong Friendship by S.J. Tagliareni

Book reviewed by Nancy Eaton

Did you have a best friend who was there for you during the good times and difficult times in your life? This is the story of On the Corner.  Purchase Here.

Sal and his childhood friend, Michael have been there for each other. It is difficult to imagine what would have happened had they not been there to provide the emotional support to each other during the many events that took place over the years.

The reader will follow the story of these two men as they face many situations in life; marriage, deaths of loved ones, going their separate ways to college and reconnecting again.

Once you read On the Corner, it will make you really appreciate someone you might have known like Sal and Michael. Sometimes we take friends for granted but this story will make you take a second look at your close friends. Even if you have lost contact with a close friend, On the Corner will make you want to search for that person so you can reconnect again.

The author of this book, S.J. Tagliareni, has written this story in a very descriptive manner and it never lacks in details. The story never gets boring because there is always something new going on in the lives of these two men. Sal makes the reader feel like they are right there with him as the story unwinds.

On the Corner is a story of how true friendship can make a difference in someone’s life. This is a very heartwarming story, and it will bring out many emotions in the reader. I know it did for me – it brought tears to my eyes in many cases and at other times the story made me laugh. I don’t want to give away any spoilers so that is all I’m going to say about the story. On the Corner is a very worthwhile read and one that I highly recommend!

The Bee Sting

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

Book reviewed by Teri Davis Takle

t’s odd how one event can change your life, your future, and your future family’s lives. It’s simply one thing that could be traumatic, but it becomes the pivot point for everyone. That’s rather terrifying when you think about it.  Purchase Here.

Cass is a high-achieving, attractive student looking forward to attending college in Dublin next year along with her best friend, Elaine. She is apprehensive about her upcoming exams and has found alcohol changes things, including herself.

Twelve-year-old P.J. is running away from home. Life is not good, and an older bully is threatening him.  

Imelda, the mother of Cass and P.J., has problems.   She is the typically born-beautiful wife who expects to be admired by all, completely self-absorbed. Born into an impoverished and dysfunctional family, she fears going backward.   However, keeping her spending under control can be a challenge. Additionally, she feels the burden of keeping up her image to the rest of the town.

Dickie Barnes is in a downward spiral. Can he save his job and his family before bankruptcy?

You would think that Dickie was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, being that he inherited his family’s Volkswagen business.    However, Dickie is changing, his business is in financial trouble, and his priorities are out-of-whack.

The Bee Sting is an epic history of the Barnes family in about 650 pages—each character’s insecurities, the parents’ pasts, and how their emotional baggage affects their children, themselves, and each other. 

The style is a little unusual, omitting commas and ending punctuation. Usually, this is fine, but occasionally, you need to reread the sentences to follow the storyline. 

The story surrounds those who make life happen instead of those who choose the easy path; ambition, lack of opportunity, and chance all play a role in everyone’s life, along with expectations of family, friends, or society. All are influencers along this curved road of life. The importance of dreams and goals, or lacking these, often decides our success or failures.    

The characterization and setting are superb. You know these people and understand their choices in usually taking the easiest path.   You can picture each one along their misadventures. 

The ending troubled me because it did not tie up all the loose threads. I finally realized that someone finally dared to put others before themselves and do the right thing.  

Paul Murray is an Irish author and has also written three more award-winning novels, An Evening of Goodbyes, Skippy Dies, and The Mark and the Void, and additionally wrote the screenplay Metal Heart.   

The Bee Sting is not for everyone, and the issue of homosexuality makes this an adult book.

The Bee Sting was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

The Grave Listeners

The Grave Listeners by William Frank

Book Reviewed by Timea Barabas

While The Grave Listeners is just a brief incursion into life in a mystical medieval setting, it is a memorable visit. William Frank creates a strangely familiar yet distant world in which we cannot feel welcome but are tempted to linger as outside observers. The author answers the call by granting us a look at a whirlwind of events from an outsider’s vantage point.  Purchase Here.

The main character, Volushka, is the village’s grave listener. More than simply being his chosen profession, this is his birthright. The gift of listening to the dead was passed down in his family through generations. While a seemingly noble profession (given that it protects the living and the dead alike), Volushka is despised by most villagers.

As the story unfolds, William Frank reveals more details about the tools of the trade, and the reader becomes increasingly more familiar with what grave listening should truly be. While this vocation is intriguing, to me, the most entrancing aspect of the short novel is the social dynamic between Volushka and the villagers.

The relationship between the people and the outcast is elastic, it snaps when stretched, and the atmosphere is often tense. Although they keep Volushka in contempt, the villagers also need him; he is a seemingly indispensable part of their life. However, the day a stranger walks into the village, everything changes. His presence impacts the entire community and threatens to offer a more socially acceptable alternative to Volushka.

In stark contrast to all of Volushka’s other relationships is the one he cultivates with Benzi. Their interactions are filled with prolonged playful banter. If Volushka is associated with death, the child is a vivid representation of life. Benzi is joyful, lively, innocent, and beloved. While the scenes these two characters share highlight contrasting traits, on occasion, they also reveal some common ground.

This is a story about decay. Social. Personal. Carnal. The Grave Listeners is a daring incursion into an uncomfortable world where innocence does not survive long. This is the author’s first novel after having published numerous books of poetry. The vivid imagery and playful language scattered across the pages stand as a testament to William Frank’s previous literary work.

Dak Ackerthefifth and the Ethics of Heroism

Dak Ackerthefifth and the Ethics of Heroism by Joshua Joseph

Reviewed by Ray Palen

“You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” – The Dark Knight
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That quote from filmmaker Christopher Nolan resonated with me as I read this complex and extremely satisfying novel from Joshua S Joseph. The protagonist in this, a young Indian man with the unique name of Dak Ackerthefifth — a name blamed on the same slip of the entry pen used on Ellis Island while in-taking droves of new American citizens to our country.

DAK ACKERTHEFIFTH AND THE ETHICS OF HEROISM is more of a spiritual journey than a work of fiction and the reader is privileged to go along for the ride. Throughout Dak’s life he seeks to understand the precept of what it means to be a hero. We understand that for one to be a hero you must pick a side — hero or villain — but we also learn that life is not that black and white and often times it is not clear as to which side you are on. The story begins with the death of his parents, Richard and Rudy. Our narrator indicates that the death of parents is the way every good hero story starts — but be mindful, this is no Disney tale.

Richard Ackerthefifth was a ballpoint pen magnate who allegedly died during a business trip to the Congo — or so Dak’s mother told him. Rudy was left to raise 8-year-old Dak and his younger sister, Emily. Regrettably, or in keeping with the hero plan, Rudy passes away when Dak is 14. Her death is blamed solely on Crazy Uncle Ji. He was not an actual ‘Uncle’, but was given that honorific title by their mother. Shortly after Rudy was diagnosed with cancer, Crazy Uncle Ji gave her a cocktail of various supplements which initially helped her but then quickly pushed her into a physical nosedive that she never recovered from.

Now, young Dak is sent to Boarding School while Emily is placed into foster care. It is while attending the Ellsworth School that Dak had his first taste of heroism. Initially, Dak thought this came from the altercation he got into with another student over the death of one of their classmates. Actually, his heroic act took place on a class ski trip. A smaller classmate, Pard, was partnered with Dak on the trip and he slipped from the chairlift while it was climbing up the mountain. Dak grabbed Pard and held on until it was safe to let go, essentially saving Pard’s life.

The next chapter in Dak’s journey involved his moving in with his Aunt Rhoda once he was ‘done’ with Boarding School. She lived in Manhattan, which ended up being the ideal testing ground for Dak’s theories of heroism. The trouble was that Aunt Rhoda was a ‘hideous human being’ who was taking care of Dak more for the benefits she received from the Foundation his father had left behind than out of any sense of familial responsibility. At one point, his sister Emily comes to stay for a short visit. Emily implores her brother not to let her be taken back to foster care again, an experience that has included a number of different families each ending with her being sent back into the system. Unfortunately, Dak is not old enough yet to make such a decision and his Aunt Rhoda explains that foster care is what Emily needs as she suffers from various mental issues that require constant supervision.

As Dak is experiencing the world as a young man he continues to question everything and put all his experiences through various philosophical and ethical filters. He ponders on the concept of Interaction versus Isolation. The philosopher John Paul Sartre stated ‘Hell is other people’. To feel Sartre’s Hell, one must feel isolation while being amongst other people and not feeling saved by any interaction with your fellow man. Dak gets his best opportunity to truly interact with human nature when he takes on his first job. He is hired to do odds and ends at a management office that handled various tenant buildings around the NYC area. His boss was a Jew, Mr. Frank, a fact that allowed Dak to further explore the differences between his own Roman Catholic upbringing and other religious precepts.

Eventually, Dak is utilized by Mr. Frank because he is not one of the ‘Jewish tribe’ to collect back rent from various tenants who are in arrears. It is here where he meets Esther, a young woman who play a pivotal role in Dak’s journey. In his initial meeting, where he is attempting to collect overdue rent, Esther gives Dak quite an earful. She was the tenant from hell and a professional problem for him to solve. Subsequent visits find Esther warming towards the unassuming Dak and she becomes a font of good stories and advice. For instance, she tells Dak how fortunate it is that both his parents died when he was young as he never had to experience taking care of them when they were older and physically/mentally wasting away. It is also with Esther that Dak has his first sexual experience.

Dak focuses on the concept of approval and recognizing that, as a physical being not in isolation, we are ever seeking out the approval of ourselves from other people. This leads him to his next serious interaction with another tenant named Lissa. He will have a physical relationship with her and also spend some time living with her as well. Dak looked at his time living with Lissa as a vacation and understood that even the most satisfying vacations had to eventually end. On the home front, Emily had now graduated from foster care and is taken in by Aunt Rhoda. The three of them are all at a point where they abhor the presence of one another and bounce around the home like solitary electrons failing to make contact with each other.

One day, Dak finds Aunt Rhoda unconscious on the floor of their apartment — a situation that Emily had not even noticed. He rides in the ambulance with her to the hospital. Even though everything is tried to save her, Aunt Rhoda eventually succumbs to her malady and passes away. While in the hospital, Dak ponders that idea that real heroes are practitioners of medicine. However, he cannot truly buy into this idea as so many of those in the medical field do not actually care about the people they are treating. It is not long after Rhoda’s passing that a face from the past returns, Uncle Ji. Ji now is able to speak to Dak, adult to adult, and explains that the facts behind each of his parents deaths were not what Dak had been led to believe. He also provides Dak with some information, a ‘gift’ as he refers to it, that he can use as political leverage against his employer, Mr. Frank. Unfortunately, that gift backfires and Dak is fired from the only job he ever had.

Dak rebounds into his next serious relationship, this time with Esther’s sister, Dina. Now unemployed, Dak moves in with Dina and it is there where he meets with my favorite character in the novel, Abe. Abe is Dina’s brother and he is an extraordinary thinker and debater of concepts, both religious and otherwise. His first interaction with Dak begins with a diatribe on the Jewish and Palestinian conflict and how that arose. Abe likes to hear himself talk and he also likes someone who will question and challenge him, which Dak provides for him. If you have ever seen the Richard Linklater film, Waking Life, in which pairs of characters converse philosophically with each other on a myriad of subjects, you will understand my feelings about the scenes between Dak and Abe. There are a few chapters involving the two of them together and it provides the best dialogue in the novel.

At one point in a Sushi restaurant, Dak, Dina, Abe and his lover Katie are chatting — or, more to the point, listening to Abe speak — when Dina finally calls him out for his cynical banter. She shares with Dak a quote from Tom Robbins that makes him think: ‘We waste time looking for the perfect lover, instead of creating the perfect love’. On another occasion, Abe asks Dak how he would feel if he were able to shut society down. Unhook the world from their wireless devices and disconnect everyone from everything they utilize to get them through their lives. Dak indicates that this would finally make him a hero. It is at this point, towards the end of the story, where Abe provides Dak with just such an opportunity and it opens everything up all at once for Dak, finally providing him with answers he has spent his life searching for.

DAK ACKERTHEFIFTH AND THE ETHICS OF HEROISM was both and exhilarating and exhausting read as it provides so many various concepts that require the reader to disengage from our current culture and seek to find true meaning in our lives. It is a participatory novel requiring the reader to think and dive in deep along with our ‘hero’. Dak is the ideal figure to go on this journey and I was sorry for that ride to come to an end. I give much credit to author Joshua S Joseph, who refers to himself as an author, philosopher and consumer of shadows. He is definitely someone that would be interesting to chat with.

Saw the Forest

Saw the Forest by Patrick McConnell

Book Reviewed by Lisa Brown-Gilbert

A read which keeps your heart as invested as your mind, Patrick L. McConnell’s Saw the Forest explores life through a multi-faceted lens, bringing attention to aspects of the human condition, wrapped in layers of emotion and motive through the experiences of life. Presented with a grove of eclectic characters, each on their own life’s journey but whose paths cross in dynamic and life-altering ways. Purchase Here.

A deft storyteller, author Patrick L. McConnell, captures the attention quickly with his literate narrative, which features a well-drawn cast of characters, each as interesting as the next to
meet, as well as somehow entangled within the same web of a diverse community collective. Moreover, the story divulges uniquely posed aspects of human nature, exemplified through the characters, inclusive of traits like love, bravado, religion, violence, as well as politics. Moreover, skillfully presented amidst relatable interactions which create an interwoven mosaic of human frailty and strengths, making exciting fuel for this evocative, character driven read.

Immediately, this literate, detail focused narrative brings into view the Right family; father, Artemus a doctor, Mother Taniaz, and their sons, Philip and Adam. The brothers are a unique pair, in that, younger brother Adam takes care of his elder brother Philip, who is considerably larger and stronger than him, but his mind is that of a child. As the family dynamic changes over time, after having lost both parents, the pair of brothers live humble lives as adults, still sharing a close bond. Adam, quietly stalwart, socially awkward, even reticent but well-meaning remains his brother’s faithful keeper who at times can become an unintentionally aggressive and intimidating handful.

Next, we meet Maryanne Whipple. She presents an intensely sympathetic character, and at age 24, she is attractive, and intelligent, but also scarred both physically and mentally. Additionally, having been recently released from service in the military, Maryanne bears a hard set life as she lives life from a wheelchair scarred from war and challenged with a mostly missing right leg and a damaged left, which makes finding a direction in life an uncertainty. And although she is somewhat shell shocked, albeit traumatized, she also harbors an empathetic nature as well as a brave heart.

As a matter of fact, each ensuing chapter adds further depth to the story with the addition of new characters, each being an intriguing inclusion to the story, adding another thread to the web of life especially when they intersect with the more prominent characters. Also meanwhile, an undercurrent of mystery flows throughout the story as machinations of characters and events occur via the receipt of mysterious emails coming to nun sister Alana Orrick, the context of which is often peculiar but also leads to life altering illumination.

All in all, I absolutely enjoyed Saw the Forest, by author Patrick L. McConnell. I am definitely a fan, especially after having read his previous work, The Gene Rasp. In particular, I find his style of writing, welcoming, entertaining and proficiently literate. He provides plenty of interesting action, characters, settings, and storylines. Additionally, his adept storytelling abilities escort you on a literary journey that is not only easily appealing, intricately detailed, and filled with intriguing personas, but also captures the imagination by virtue of the refreshing insertion of science fiction/fact-based elements. I definitely recommend this as well his other work as they are well worth the read and would make great movies.

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The Storm by Val Bardash

Reviewed by Timea Barabas

The Storm” by Val Bardash is a beautifully written tale about intimacy in its many forms. Intimacy between family, friends, even strangers… and also the empty space between us. But above all else, the void that we all carry around within us. A bottomless black hole that we try to fill with love, tenderness, adventures, or writing. Purchase Here.

The book follows two main stories that become interwoven, that of youth and of aging. A young aspiring writer tries to find himself and his estranged father through writing. Perhaps the one thing that connects them, beyond blood. The books written by his famous father, John Stark, become a window through which the son can glance at an image of a father figure. But the figure is distorted. It is uncertain which features are real and which are carefully crafted by the Stark’s pen.

The author showcases throughout the pages how years of life and living transform some raw innate elements while washing over others without leaving a mark. The characters seem to be lost souls aimlessly wandering in the modern wilderness desperate to reach a clearing. For the main protagonists, the coveted clearing was, in fact, a mountain, a place of solitude, rest, and death. They were drawn to this beacon of resolution for similar reasons, and on their journey, they discovered not only themselves but each other as well.

“Do not bring your unsettled thoughts to the mountains,” this is a place of serenity and calm. An unsettled mind places people in danger; it makes the mountain restless and vengeful for disturbing its sleep. This is a story about two restless minds that awoke the mountain and suffered its wrath.

The narrative is carefully constructed and layered by Val Bardash. It takes the reader down a deeply intimate path with unpredictable twists and turns. While the ending does bring closure to the story, the book is more about the journey itself and the becoming of man. “The Storm” is a beautifully written novel that captures the raw essence of human nature, or at least a fragment of it. But that fragment is on full display with both its brilliance and its dark crevasses.

Still the Night Call

Still the Night Call by Joshua Senter

Book Reviewed by Lisa Brown-Gilbert

Joshua Senter’s Still the Night Call traces a memorable and emotionally rending journey to self- realization, with a tale which rattles the heart and mind into giving pause and reflecting on how you may value your life and the world you live in.  Purchase Here.

Told through the lens of central character Calem Honeycutt, a dairy farmer, whose whole life is centered around making a living through farming which he does mainly by helping his father work his farm. Moreover, at thirty-two years old, Calem is a man who has lost hope. A quiet man of few words, the narrative is fueled by his internal mentations, more so than his face- to-face interactions. Ultimately a bit of a loner, he does not often venture far from his life as a dairy farmer; however, for the most part, he seems to enjoy his life that way and sees his life as nothing worthier than that.

Immediately the curiosity is piqued when Calem, who comes across as an intelligent, determined and sympathetic character, seems convinced he is living his “last day”. Consequently, the story traces the events of his self-prophesied last day counting time down, to his final “night call”, a time known when your activity ceases to go to bed, but for his intents and purposes it would mean much more. As he lives out the hours of his last days he ruminates over his life’s events, experiences, and memories as well as comes across a life altering experience which would teach him the hardest lesson of all to value your life, live it your way no matter what is happening in your world externally.

Through Calem’s perspective, pessimism, doubt, and fears rear their ugly heads threatening farms and businesses as a contemporary world in flux steadily and mercilessly moves away from the conventions of small family-owned farms and businesses, especially the dairy farm as the demand for milk moves from conventional cow’s milk towards other alternative milks, making it difficult for them to make a decent living. Ultimately it is through Calem’s discussions, philosophies and internalized insights which reveal other catalysts to economic hardship, as the story interweaves real life elements concerning the current social, political, economic, and moral elements affecting the livelihoods of local dairy farmers, small businesses and the like.

Conclusively, I enjoyed Still the Night Call.  I found myself enmeshed in this touching and dramatic story eager to follow Calem’s emotion rending journey towards his proposed night call. Overall, author Joshua Senter is simply an excellent storyteller.  The story flowed seamlessly, with the articulate scenes presenting many instances of deep thought provocation centering on facts of contemporary life and how it affects and changes those that lead simple more community connected lives. Overall, this is not only a book which I recommend reading, but I believe wholeheartedly, would also make a fantastic movie.

 

Princess Reigns

Princess Reigns by Roger Williams

Book Reviewed by Timea Barabas

Princess Reigns is a story that puts all of the seven deadly sins on display. Ava Edwards (aka Princess Ava) is a young, ambitious minister from the city of Del Toray. Her ambitions, however, do not align with any spiritual path of spreading God’s love. Instead, they are ambitions for money and power. Ava does not believe the messages that she preaches. Instead, she sees her place in the church as a stepping stone to greater things. Purchase Here.

Ava is guilty of many of the seven deadly sins herself. Her wrath is on display immediately, as the book opens with Ava chasing an employee around the room, attempting to attack him. Her lust takes the form of sleeping with her ex-con church employee, Joe, behind the back of her husband, Henry. Her greed is visible in her desire to get a hold of her stepdaughter’s trust fund. Her envy is clear in her hatred for Reverend Holt, the leader of the church down the road. Her pride is shown in her self-praise for her looks and intellect.

The only two deadly sins that Ava does not display are gluttony and sloth. In fact, with the level of work she puts into her evil plans, sloth is the last sin of which Ava could possibly be accused. While she might not be guilty of these two sins, her ten-year-old son Jimmy certainly is. Mother and child are not the only villains of this story. Ava’s lover Joe and his brother Robbie certainly carry their fair share of wicked intent. Both brothers can check off several of the deadly sins themselves. Even our protagonist, private detective and stepdaughter of Ava, Tori Edwards, is guilty of wrath. She is constantly at odds with Ava over the way Ava treats Tori’s little sister, Susy.

In Princess Reigns, Roger Williams once again taps into the darkness to bring us a story with twisted characters looking to prey upon the innocent for their own gain. We see the depths that the worst among us are willing to stoop in order to gain money and power. We also see the lengths that the best of us will go to for the ones we love.

This book is another battle between the light and the dark from Williams. Few characters can be said to occupy any of the gray space in between. While Ava may pretend to be a member of the light, her secret soul is pitch black. The characters that Williams creates are either horrifying or admirable, and choosing sides is easy.

Ellipsis

Ellipsis by Kristy McGinnis

Reviewed by Timea Barabas

Ellipsis” by Kristy McGinnis is a wonderful piece of fiction that reads like real life. The novel tells the story of a girl becoming a woman. And through this not so out of the ordinary life are presented some of the horrors of ordinary life. Purchase Here.

The novel opens up with the blossoming of Nell Sanger, a college student who has all her future mapped out. She took on some side jobs to help support herself, one of which was modeling for art students. That is where she met Narek, a gifted art student from Armenia. The two immediately felt connected by the many things they have in common and were intrigued by each-others cultural and personal differences.

But this is not a simple love story. It is a complex tale about the many forms love can take and the challenges that these bring. The love for and of a boyfriend, former lover, child, mentor, fellow women, the love of self. As you go through the pages of the book, there is an overwhelming sense that tragedy, loss is inescapable. Happiness, on the other hand, is harder to hold on to. Will Nell be able to experience joy, or will all her happiness end up being trapped somewhere in the past?

“Ellipsis” also brings into question the nature of personal time. In the face of a great loss and the crumbling of a future carefully constructed over years, the past is drastically re-evaluated. When put in this situation, Nell oscillates between two alternatives. As the future crumbles, so does the past upon which it was built. It becomes obsolete. However, she is also tempted to invest past events with additional value. Her memories, at least, are there and she cannot be robbed by those.

The author gets straight to the point. She sticks to a leisurely language but masterfully uses it to shuttle her message to the inner being of the reader. The story itself and the raw emotions take the center stage in the book. Kristy McGinnis brings into focus rather big and very important themes, dangers that still lurk in society. While violence and tragedy blow into focus, the underlying narrative focuses on prevention.

Ellipsis” is an emotional read that might easily steal a few tears from the reader. The author succeeds in holding the reader captivated and on the edge of each sheet, eager to read what will happen next.

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Araya by E. Detorres

Book Reviewed by Dianne Woodman

An elite team of Gundogs has been trained by Ellis Fast to hunt down and kill Gluttons for their armor. Gluttons are the deadliest and most ferocious creatures in Hell’s Heart, a Black Forest filled with trees that can influence people through music and lyrics and cause them to lose their sanity. While on a mission, one of the team members is killed in a particularly heinous way by a Glutton. The remaining members make the trek out of the forest before they lose touch with reality. After returning to their mountain abode, they are hired to retrieve an asset that the military believes could change the tide of an ongoing war, and the secretive weapon is located deep in the Black Forest. Ellis along with team members Alex Bright and Smug embark on a mission fraught with threats from sadistic creatures that live in the forest, the trees that invade people’s minds and cause horrifying reactions in behavior against themselves and/or others, and soldiers from warring factions. Will the team find the asset and make it out of the forest to safety or will they succumb to the call of the trees and/or be killed by the minacious life forms before they can complete their mission? Purchase Here.

Whenever characters recall events from their past, the transitions are smooth and seamless. All of the memories not only have had a lasting impact on the characters’ lives and the motivations behind the ways they react to the life-threatening circumstances in which they find themselves but also affect how they deal with the deadly mental attacks that could upend their lives at any moment. Ellis taught special needs children before taking on the task of hunting Gluttons, and his memories involving some of his students are an integral part of the storyline. E. Detorres is well-qualified to write about special needs children and their behavioral responses and the best ways to communicate with them. The use of adapted sign language in the story serves an important purpose.

Araya is a gripping dark thriller in which psychological terror plays a big part, and it never lets up in tension and suspense. The expert use of imagery and metaphors by Detorres ignites readers’ imaginations so that they can easily picture images in their minds of the setting and the characters, while also experiencing the action in the story. The violent scenes and material depicting sexual behavior are described in graphic detail. There are a number of heart-pounding incidents in Araya that will leave readers wondering how things will turn out for the characters. Detorres has penned an excellent book that superbly illustrates the resilience of the human spirit and is well-worth reading.