Dream Faces

The author sent me an autographed copy of his novel to be reviewed:

I’m sorry, I just couldn’t buy into this story. Why this story had to be told with all the characters having either a guardian angel (if you are a good person) or a demon (if you are a bad person) is beyond me. Once the reader gets the idea of the paranormal side of the characters...the author (Steve Shanks) should have backed off. It became very tiresome...enough is enough. Later the reader learns that if the boss (God?) determines real help is needed for someone, it’s okay for the supernatural to be seen and converse with his charge (although kidnapped, Grace, had no such help). What? The prose was way too rudimentary for my liking. This is the author’s first novel and I’m sure his prose and craftsmanship will improve. In the meantime, Mr. Shanks should work on his plot development and avoid dubious situations, such as the hiring of a moron (Rollo) by his boss (Mr. Petrov) to carry out crucial duties. The author needs to understand that his story must make sense. Okay, I’ll tell you a little bit of the story.

Mark Stephens is a painter (artist) who basically paints what he dreams. He has been painting three young girls over and over again. They turn out to be real missing females: Grace, Jordan and Ashley, all around thirteen years of age. He doesn’t know that the girls he is painting are real. Of course his seven foot guardian angel (‘D’) is always with him. I’m only mentioning this one time because every character that I unveil in this review has either a guardian angel or a demon with them at all times (so for repetitive reasons, I will not disclose it again). Mark sends out a marketing packet displaying his paintings. A Mr. Vlad Alexandrov of a NYC gallery calls and wants to meet Mark and see his paintings. Mark takes five finished paintings to NYC and Vlad loves them. He goes home (Michigan) and later finds out that the five paintings he left with Vlad are sold and a show is being set up for Mark in Vlad’s Ann Arbor, Michigan gallery.

Meanwhile, we find out that troubled young girls are being tricked by a loser named Jess (portraying herself to be a college student) to go out with her for a fun time. Instead they are drugged and brought to abandoned house by Jess’s weak-minded boyfriend, Nate. Then a gorilla look-alike Rollo cuffs them to a pipe in the basement. Rollo works in a Russian restaurant as the owner’s hired goon. Apparently, the owner, Mr. Petrov, plans to sell these girls to pimps. Really? If so, why starve the stupefied unwashed girls and let Rollo abuse them. This is where the story makes no sense at all. Eventually obnoxious detectives, Watts and Stein, appear to further muddle the story. There isn’t a single character that I felt any empathy for, even Jess’s toddler, Noah, who always seemed to be asleep. Did I care about Mark, who was going to get into a lot of trouble? Let me think about it... did I care? Nope.

I don’t like to be critical about an author’s baby (his/her novel), but there was nothing in this novel to hang my hat on. It was a rocky effort at best, sorry to say. But Steve does have a lot on his plate. He is an accomplished painter and his paintings are being sold in galleries and through his website. Maybe he will turn things around and write a credible second novel...just stay away from guardian ‘angels and demons.’ Wait a minute, didn’t Dan Brown already write that novel?

RATING: 2 out of 5 stars

Comment: Have you ever wondered who wrote the worst books of all time? (Steve Shanks’ novel is not one of them) Well, believe it or not, there are many different list of turkey books. The following three books make every list I’ve seen:

Scientology: The fundamentals of thought by L. Ron Hubbard (1998). His guide to greater happiness.

I want to tell you: My response to your letters, your messages, your questions by O.J.Simpson
(1995). Do you really want to read what this liar has to say?

Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler (1925). Believed to be the Nazi bible.

I’m sure you have your own favorite book that you use to count sheep. Ha,ha!