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Danny and Howard are cousins who have not seen each other in over 20 years. When they were teenagers Danny participated in a cruel prank on Howard, leaving him stranded in a cave for several days. In those days, Howard was fat and nerdy; just the kind of guy the 'cooler' kids loved to play tricks on. Fast forward to the present time. Danny is a punk, still trying to be cool, but now he is in trouble with the mob. When Howard, who was a successful bond trader who retired in his early 30s, calls Danny and asks him to come to Europe, Danny sees a way out of his troubles in New York. Howard and his wife, along with a group of graduate students and hangers-on, are renovating a castle in Eastern Europe. They want to make the place a peaceful retreat from the world of cell phones, email, television and the other distractions of modern life. However, there is a lot of work to be done and Danny is not quite sure exactly why Howard needs him. Danny is the narrator, but is it Danny’s story or someone else’s? We switch from the castle to a prison class in creative writing. Holly, the instructor, is not really qualified to teach writing, but no one else applied. Holly thinks that Ray has some talent for story telling, and his classmates do also; so much so, in fact, that they threaten him when he doesn’t have a new chapter for them. From a slow beginning, where the reader might be inclined to dismiss Danny as a whiner and complainer, to a highly charged ending, the book creeps up on you. There is more here than meets the eye. The themes of trust, love, and the supernatural are all present. Also the crimes and heartbreak of the past play a big part. While the characters originally are not very sympathetic, the reader will definitely care when they finish the book.
Reviewed by Lorraine Gelly, November 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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