Posts
All Comments
The dead man's shoes spoke to Kurt long before he wore them. He expected the shoes to say something, of course; Kurt had hundreds of articles of clothing from dearly departed, wardrobe of wearable ghosts that fueled his existence.
Title: Faces In The Fire
Author: T. L. Hines
ISBN: 9781595544537
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Pages: 354
Faces In The Fire is my second T L Hines novel, The Unseen being the first. He writes what is known as noir fiction. I liked The Unseen very much and in Faces In The Fire too, Hines doesn't disappoint us.
Kurt, a truck driver turned sculpture, can hear the dead speak. He has no memories of his own past although he tries his best to know who he is. Corriene, an e-mail spammer has got cancer, which isn't getting any better with treatment. Grace has left her family, and has invented a new existence as a tattoo artist and finally there is Stan, who is hit man, with a gift of killing.
Each one is different from the other and are not acquainted with each other. Yet, their lives converge at one point with symbols, numbers and inklings, which helps each one to know their inner power. This power can destroy them or redeem them. It is their choice to get around that power, that unknown force which comes into their path.
With mysterious elements, and a small layer of supernatural, suspense works very well. Kurt might be able to listen to the dead but he does nothing to help them. And how is the catfish and the numbers going to help him, when he doesn't even know who he is? Corriene is compelled by a spam to order something for herself, which might make her lymphoma disappear. Grace too thinks that the number she holds on to, is lucky and gives it to Corriene when she learns of her cancer. Stan and Grace's life to merge and how oes it change for both?
T L Hines writing is so beautiful that one is kind of compelled to read through it. His bizarre settings makes sense while reading it. Maybe because, we too expect miracles to change our lives, to make everything right. The twisted ending is just right for this book, which is funny in a dark way, which seems real even while it is weird. The characters are endearing even though they are dark. Hines manages to show us their white sides too. Each has a talent for something. And is able to use that talent to redeem others and the self too. Those who like something different, I recommend it.
Thanks to the publishers for the copy.
Let me tell you about the time your grandfather took a sledgehammer to the car.
Title: Breathing Out the Ghost
Author: Kirk Curnutt
ISBN: 9781579660703
Publisher: River City/2007
Pages: 329
Book Blurb:
Colin St. Claire is on a dangerous mission. His young son is missing, and he is on a self-appointed quest to find the boy, or at least find the man he believes is responsible. Fueled by uppers and a profound lack of sleep, Colin’s road soon becomes an uncontrollable spiral of blurry white lines, of fleeting forms in the night, ghosts of memory as intangible as vapor . . . Assisting him is Robert Heim, a former private investigator who lost his license in the line of duty—and it is a sense of warped duty that still ties him to Colin, though his own family, a loving wife and children, beckons him back home . . . The answers for both men may lie not with the man they believe is the perpetrator, but with a long-suffering farmer’s wife, Beverly “Sis” Pruitt, whose own daughter was claimed by violence, years prior.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Curnutt has taken up a very difficult issue, that of the parents of a missing child. One of the worst nightmares any parent can face. Not knowing if the child is dead or alive and the hope that he/she is. Living with that day after day is one uphill task. Everyone expects that the parents ought to move on and get on with their lives. Is it easy? Curnutt has kept his characters the way they are. No explanations, no apologies but what they are. Has there to be any reason for what we are? Curnutt shows us no reason is needed. Colin St. Clair, Heim, Dickie, the pedophile, Sis, whose daughter has been murdered, don't need props or anything.
Answers are not easy to find. But Curnut is not on that mission to provide us answers. He has written a novel about the thoughts of a father with a missing son, a mother whose daughter has been murdered, and a private invesigator who just has to go along and Dickie, the pedophile. Their connection to each other and their single minded pursuits. Does it converge anywhere. Most important, does it have to?
With complex characters and the novel moving from one character to the other, totally keeps us riveted. Curnutt's prose too helps, with its poetic way of writing. A novel, which is powerful, hard hitting, profound, disturbing, brutally frank, deeply moving and intelligent. Not an easy novel but why should any book need to be easy?
I especially liked the following:
"There aren't any laws governing grief except the law of certain obliteration." Thoughts of Colin St. Clair
" What kind of man would leave his wife to go on a wild goose chase -- and what kind of woman wouldn't go with him."
These are the thoughts of Sis, whose daughter has been murdered.
Some people move on leaving behind the past, some can't. It is as simple or as complex as that. Who are we to judge?
In India, everyday Children go missing, mostly from poor families. Believe it or not, the police does not seem to care unless the child is from an affluent class.
I rate it: 5/5.
Also reviewed by:
She is too fond of books
Chartroose
Caribousmom
