Read why this reader was left cold. #bookreview

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Pieces


Written by Chad Schimke




Genre: General Fiction


Book Synopsis

The lives of a grandson and grandfather are imposed against a supernatural convergence.

Roy McCarthy's Rating





Roy McCarthy's Review


This book has received a sprinkling of five-star reviews on Amazon. I’m afraid I’m not going to keep the sequence going. Maybe I just never got onto the author’s wavelength - I’m not sure - but that is the writer’s job. Engage the reader. I was never really engaged.

Whoever tagged the book ‘mystery’ and ‘paranormal’ has some explaining to do. We start with a coven right enough, in some woods above San Francisco. Lyman Blackmore pledges future profits from his casino to the Moonglow Fellowship in return for its financial success. Failure to honour the pledge will make Asmodeus angry. (Asmodeus is portrayed here as the god of luck and gambling, rather than the better-known demon of lust). That is the last we see of any mystery until the closing pages.

As the title suggests, and the prologue hints, the text consists of pieces of a jigsaw – many sub-stories within the main one. Instead the main story bookends a number of loosely connected vignettes, jumping in time between the 60s and the 90s. Set mainly in San Francisco these little sub-plots are self-supporting and advance the main story little, if at all. They perhaps add a little context but are woodenly written with little real actions. Characters are spasmodically developed only to never appear again. The stand-out character is Pinky Kelly and I warmed to the story as the flawed young man floundered in the city before finding his way home to Kansas.

I persevered, hoping for a big finish. Asmodeus has been shafted by Blackmore’s scheming wife Glinda and he emerges from his underground lair on his winged beast. What an opportunity was lost as he encounters a plane making its way in to land! Instead the book rushes to an end with the wicked Glinda squashed under her own house. This reader was left cold.

Somewhere in Chad Schimke’s novel is a good story trying to get out. In my opinion this just doesn’t happen here. It reads like an unedited first draft. I’m sure the author can write but, for me, he disappoints with this book.

Review Disclaimer: Book was provided free of charge in exchange for an honest review.