Book Review : Elegance and Evil - a fab weekend read

 

Elegance and Evil
by DK Coutant
The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Fiction

Cleo Cooper is on a sabbatical in Santa Fe. She misses her home in Hawaii but is shocked to learn that one of the volcanoes have erupted and many of her friends are affected there.. Then one of her acquaintances in Santa Fe, Ginger, is found dead in the desert. The death is by heat stroke according to the police but is it?

The suspects range from the son of a Russian spy to a Saudi Arabian woman who works with abused women in a Center run by Ginger and her.While the FBI is on the case, Cleo Cooper does her own investigation. The moment she begins to investigate, someone tries to kill her. It is not just once multiple attempts are made to kill her but why?

Zipping between Hawaii and Santa Fe, the author ensures logic drives the narrative instead of common prejudice against a particular nationality in a mystery thriller. It was refreshing to read and I learnt in the end, the author is also a geopolitical forecaster. No wonder. 

The writing is crisp, fast paced. It would be the perfect read if you wish to curl up with a book for the weekend. 

To buy the book , go here Amazon



 

Book Review : Oliver's Travels by Clifford Garstang

 

Oliver's Travels
by Clifford Garstang
302 pages, Regal House Publishing.
Genre : Fiction


"To find what you’re looking for, you have to know what you’re looking for" - Oliver Travels.


What is memory? If we forget someone or something, where does the memory of the person or incident go? What is the watchmaker argument? Why is belief not knowledge and where is truth in all of this? Is charity a myth? Can you be certain of something? How? These questions and more are asked by the author and answered in his book, Oliver Travels.

Oliver Tucker graduates college and decides to not stay with his father, elder brother who is an army vet from Afghanistan, sister Sally Ann who is married and who all live in Indiana. Instead he moves in with his mother who lives in Virginia. He decides to go in for an interview at the local university, he doesn't expect to get the teaching job but he does. Since his job starts only in the next semester, he has a couple of months and decides to write while doing odd jobs. At a coffee shop, he spots Mary who also teaches English and they end up getting married. But an old photo in which he cannot recognize his father's brother - Uncle Scotty who is supposed to have traveled the globe bothers him. Oliver writes a story of his alter ego. As he writes Oliver Travels - a fantasy travel in his head it leads to him really travel. But what is looking for? As he writes, the stories of both Oliver the author and Oliver the character begin to merge as fiction is nothing but truth mixed with a few lies. But will he find the truth?

Garstang's book is metaphysical in nature. His writing is crisp and makes you pause and wonder. Will we go to the lengths to find the truth as Oliver does? Or would it blame it on someone else? At times, it is humourous like the Great God Google which most of us use to get information instead of heading to a library. It is now like the Oracle of Delphi which spits truths to our generation and the next. Humane, witty and insightful, this book is a must read.

It deals with a lot of stuff that is going on in today's world which most people do not connect and think of as separate and different occurrences. But it is not as they are all tied in. Do read Oliver's Travels to find out how.


Buy the book here  on Amazon.