Review by Winter Swan -- Guardian of Deceit
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Review by Winter Swan -- Guardian of Deceit
[Following is a volunteer review of "Guardian of Deceit" by William H. Coles.]
Guardian of Deceit by William H. Coles is a literary fiction novel that tells the story of a young man named Darwin Hastings, and his growth to become the man that he ended up being under the guardianship of his cousin Luther Pinnelli, a popular NFL player. At the beginning of the novel, Darwin leaves his dying aunt to go live with his cousin. There is forced to work and earn his allowance - something that was saved up for him by his parents before their death and as such should be rightfully given to him without much plea or talk. But Luther decides that the best way to raise a child is to make them earn their place an whatever is given to them in life as life doesn't give anything for free. At the Pinnelli mansion, Darwin is left in a cold place, a place filled with lies, deceit and pretense. But he must keep calm and keep going if he will ever achieve his dream of going to a topnotch university and become the doctor that he has always wanted to be.
The writing style of the author, i must say is quite different from many others out there. The novel is filled with a lot of ambiguities and uncompleted plot which to me comes off as intentional and although isn't a style that I am used to seeing and is one that I can't say that I like, William H. Coles does an very good job with the story line as he made sure that at the end of the day, those ambiguities are cleared up, leaving no place for confusion.
What I liked best about the book was how the author took his time to develop each character. The readers are given a glimpse into the past life of some of the character, something that helps the readers understand why those characters are the way they are. True to William's style where he let each character develop into what they are in the present, i was given the impression that these characters weren't thought up, but were in fact alive and were humans. They made mistakes, they loved and they hated, typical of humans and this made it easy to be empathetic towards them and their plight. For instance, Sweeney and her love for Luther, although can easily be said to be unhealthy was perfectly understandable. She like many others in the real world, was just a woman in love, a woman who chose to give her emotional and one time physical tormentor the benefit of the doubt. Why? Because love is blind.
Another thing I liked was the fact that the author didn't limit the story to just that of Darwin, his struggles and triumph, but also told of Betsy, her estrangement form her family, her secrecy and ultimately her disappearance. This gave the book a thriller feel, something that i didn't expect halfway through the book. The turn of event was greatly appreciated by me and the suspense provided kept me curious and wanting to discover the truth about Betsy.
Darwin's relationship with the women in his life from Sweeney to Helen and the rest really put a smile on my face. Here was a young man who was related to a star and was loved by some and adored by many, who was level-headed and calm, and didn't try to take advantage of any of the women in his life. His love life is not exactly the usual type but one thing is sure, he valued friendship. And most of his friends in the book were women, who he respected and cherished.
The one thing I didn't really like about the book was how certain important facts weren't mentioned at the time that they happened, but was later revealed way after it had happened - like Darwin's engagement or when he started creating games. I also didn't like the ambiguity of certain scenes. As earlier mentioned, that is William's style of writing and I respect that, but I can't say that I love it as it got me frustrated and feeling like I had missed out on an important fact because i didn't pay enough attention to the progress of Darwin's life in the book.
Guardian of Deceit gets a 3 out of 4 stars from me for the interesting read, great plot and little typographical error. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a little bit of action and thriller, a little bit of drama, no erotic scene, and is okay with quite a bit of cussing or the use of profanity.
******
Guardian of Deceit
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords
Guardian of Deceit by William H. Coles is a literary fiction novel that tells the story of a young man named Darwin Hastings, and his growth to become the man that he ended up being under the guardianship of his cousin Luther Pinnelli, a popular NFL player. At the beginning of the novel, Darwin leaves his dying aunt to go live with his cousin. There is forced to work and earn his allowance - something that was saved up for him by his parents before their death and as such should be rightfully given to him without much plea or talk. But Luther decides that the best way to raise a child is to make them earn their place an whatever is given to them in life as life doesn't give anything for free. At the Pinnelli mansion, Darwin is left in a cold place, a place filled with lies, deceit and pretense. But he must keep calm and keep going if he will ever achieve his dream of going to a topnotch university and become the doctor that he has always wanted to be.
The writing style of the author, i must say is quite different from many others out there. The novel is filled with a lot of ambiguities and uncompleted plot which to me comes off as intentional and although isn't a style that I am used to seeing and is one that I can't say that I like, William H. Coles does an very good job with the story line as he made sure that at the end of the day, those ambiguities are cleared up, leaving no place for confusion.
What I liked best about the book was how the author took his time to develop each character. The readers are given a glimpse into the past life of some of the character, something that helps the readers understand why those characters are the way they are. True to William's style where he let each character develop into what they are in the present, i was given the impression that these characters weren't thought up, but were in fact alive and were humans. They made mistakes, they loved and they hated, typical of humans and this made it easy to be empathetic towards them and their plight. For instance, Sweeney and her love for Luther, although can easily be said to be unhealthy was perfectly understandable. She like many others in the real world, was just a woman in love, a woman who chose to give her emotional and one time physical tormentor the benefit of the doubt. Why? Because love is blind.
Another thing I liked was the fact that the author didn't limit the story to just that of Darwin, his struggles and triumph, but also told of Betsy, her estrangement form her family, her secrecy and ultimately her disappearance. This gave the book a thriller feel, something that i didn't expect halfway through the book. The turn of event was greatly appreciated by me and the suspense provided kept me curious and wanting to discover the truth about Betsy.
Darwin's relationship with the women in his life from Sweeney to Helen and the rest really put a smile on my face. Here was a young man who was related to a star and was loved by some and adored by many, who was level-headed and calm, and didn't try to take advantage of any of the women in his life. His love life is not exactly the usual type but one thing is sure, he valued friendship. And most of his friends in the book were women, who he respected and cherished.
The one thing I didn't really like about the book was how certain important facts weren't mentioned at the time that they happened, but was later revealed way after it had happened - like Darwin's engagement or when he started creating games. I also didn't like the ambiguity of certain scenes. As earlier mentioned, that is William's style of writing and I respect that, but I can't say that I love it as it got me frustrated and feeling like I had missed out on an important fact because i didn't pay enough attention to the progress of Darwin's life in the book.
Guardian of Deceit gets a 3 out of 4 stars from me for the interesting read, great plot and little typographical error. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a little bit of action and thriller, a little bit of drama, no erotic scene, and is okay with quite a bit of cussing or the use of profanity.
******
Guardian of Deceit
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords
Latest Review: Protectors of the Black Prince by Curtis Stephen Burdick
