3 out of 4 stars
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Guardian of Deceit
Darwin Hastings left his ill aunt who was his guardian for years in Pittsburgh and moved to his cousin in New York. Luther Pinnelli, Darwin’s cousin is a famous football player and is also known as a social gorilla. Luther’s girlfriend, Sweeney Pale, is a celebrity singer. Big changes awaited Darwin to the new place, including Luther’s strict guardianship that did not allow Darwin to enjoy his inheritance allowance. He had to work if he wanted to have some money. He started working for Luther doing errands, washing cars and Luther’s personal assistant at times. Granny Aretha and the house manager, Mrs. Thomas, supported Darwin with his allowance. He witnessed the football player’s irregular lifestyle, even hidden activities like beating girls, private poker games, parties, secret transactions, and enemies. There were threats surrounding Luther, including one that almost made Luther intentionally lose the game but the team still won, which put Darwin and Sweeney in a boat accident one summer day.
Luther and Sweeney got married but Luther did not change his ways and still got into troubles, including an affair with swimmer Betsy, Mrs. Thomas’ daughter. Betsy’s dead body was found days after her disappearance and Luther was one of the persons of interest. In the end, swim coach and trainer, Mike Palmer had confessed to the crime. Sweeney became friends with Darwin. She dealt with Luther’s shortcomings and fought for her marriage.
Darwin made friends with Dr. Adrian Malverne and to the latter’s daughters, Helen and Coral. He fell in love with Ms. Pearlstein, his English tutor, but the relationship turned sour. He became a medical doctor and ended up marrying Helen Malverne, who was into lies and deceits. Darwin became wealthy from his inheritance, and from Granny’s inheritance to him as well. He also developed an app that gave him huge income. Darwin and Helen had a divorce when she had a discreet relationship with her former boyfriend, Leonard, who got her pregnant eventually. Darwin became interested with his friend who had been with him through good and bad, Dominique Millerand.
Guardian of Deceit revolved around a story about young women and their ideas toward love, friendship, lust, sex, and abuse. Darwin Hastings witnessed how women can be abused both physically and morally. Marriage motives are also described in this story. Luther married Sweeney for convenience and for his image while Sweeney loved him very much and did not care about fame and fortune. Helen got married to Darwin because he was a good catch, socially and financially. Women’s perception towards sex were differentiated in this story. Ms. Pearlstein regretted doing it with Darwin and felt so guilty. Coral had a bad reputation of doing it with some boys while her sister, Helen, did not like the feeling of being submissive with a man.
I like the way the author described a football game. It is like taking the reader to a live event and feeling the suspense of the last minute actions. “The ball soared toward Creshawn. Creshawn’s eyes locked on it. Thank you, God and Luther! Creshawn thought. He was still running through the red zone, over the goal line now, into the end zone. God f****g damn. The ball was short … way underthrown.”
How the author put into details the medical setting, including the medical students, their professors, the events inside the institution, and some malpractice, including medical lawsuits, is what I like most about the book. It got me into thinking that William Coles must have spent a lot of time in the medical field to write such vivid details.
If there’s something that I don’t like about the story is the sudden shift of Helen’s personality, from a feminist who did not enjoy making love because she felt she’s being used as a woman, and then turned up to be an adulterer. She was a sweet love interest for Darwin at the middle part of the story but soon after getting married to him, she became involved with deceit, even bearing a child to another man.
The part when Luther had beaten a girl at the motel is what I did not like the most. “The right side of her face was bruised black and blue and there was a scrape above her eye that left blood on the pillow.” When I was reading it, a question prompted me, “should it be bruised black and blue right after thirty minutes?”
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. There were a few typographical errors but I did not rate it 4 because some questions were tickling my mind while reading the book, like what I previously mentioned, “black and blue bruises” and the guardian’s offbeat presence from the middle part of the story until the end.
******
Guardian of Deceit
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