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[Following is a volunteer review of "Guardian of Deceit" by William H. Coles.]

Title.................................Guidian of Deceit.
Author................................William H. Cole
Genre..................................Other fiction
Date of Publication.............April 2015
Number of pages.................302

This book which is eligible for an award is about how individuals and institutions that we look up to sometimes disappoint us. It starts with the orphaned Darwin Hastings' journey to meet his cousin Luther Pinnelli, a famous football star, who was to be his new Guidian and father substitute. In the plane he sits next to a disagreeable old lady whose prejudice against football stars makes her to predict doom for Darwin's venture. Alongside the old lady was Dr. Adrian Melverne, a medical doctor who saw in Darwin a promising young man.

Darwin found Luther even worse than the old lady predicted - drug addicted, gambling, hardly at home and so on. Nevertheless, Darwin got along with him and his queer domestic staff. Anxious to find a successor, Dr. Melverne got Darwin into Medical School and became his mentor. Against good judgement and advice, Darwin later married Dr. Melverne's daughter - Helen. Their marriage was doomed to fail and end in divorce just like that of Darwin's in-laws or that of Luther Pinnelli and his celebrity wife Sweeney Pale. In the same way that these marriages failed, Luther Pinnelli failed as a Guidian. Darwin also failed to realise his ambition to practice Medicine while Dr Melverne failed as a professional and role model for Darwin.

This novel is a chronicle of failures. It highlights the emotional damages that a person can inflict on himself and his loved ones as a result of his failure to do what is right. It's central message is about individual moral deficiencies and the damages that follow. These aberrations can be especially disastrous when they affect sensitive institutions like the Medical profession, that is , when politics and financial rewards replace the desire to cure people and make life better.

I love this book because of it's strong moral undertone and undisputed ethical standpoint. It will be very appealing to religious minded readers and people who are passionate about moral uprightness and doing things properly. Unfortunately however, the book is not well titled. The reader struggles throughout the entire book to relate the story to the it's title. One keeps wondering if the deceiving Guidian is Luther Pinnelli, Dr. Melverne, Darwin's English teacher or Betsy's swimming coach. All these characters failed in one way or the other in their guidian roles but the element of deceit in their actions is quite vague.

The book is easily readable. It is well edited and has very few spelling or grammatical errors. Except for chapters 27 and 28 where the tense of the narrative changed from past to present and kind of confuses the reader, the book is interesting. It has a flowing narrative and is full of suspense. I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars.

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Guardian of Deceit
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Like oziboagu1's review? Post a comment saying so!

This book sounds like an intriguing read. Thanks for the detailed review.

One tiny thing i love from this book is that, books are like mirrors, you only see in them what you already know or have inside you.

This review gives the necessary information and highlights the primary theme of the book, but you misspelled "guardian" throughout your review. There were a few other grammar or spelling errors, so maybe next time you could take another look at it before posting.

The content is good, I think and addresses most of what I would like to know about this book. It doesn't sound like a book I will enjoy reading, but thank you for the review!