Safer...is Chillingly Realistic

Safer
By Sean Doolittle
BantamDell
Advance Reading Copy
334 Pages


I think Sean Doolittle’s use of first person in his suspenseful novel, Safer, made it so much more realistic for his readers! That together with the setting forces each of us to think, “this could happen to me or my family!” Scary thoughts! Yet, so real!

It was the end of the semester and Paul and Sara are hosting a faculty party when the police arrive. Paul is called to the door where police are waiting to arrest him! It is only later that he discovers he’s been accused of molesting a neighborhood teenager! As is often the case, the sad part of that tale was that he, as an English professor, had been able to share books with the young reader and encourage her love of reading. He knew that she was not behind this!

Indeed, although Paul was shocked that it had come so far, he knew who was behind these accusations—and why! But could he prove it?

New to the community, Paul and Sara had moved into Sycamore Court, a small neighborhood near the college where they both would be working. On the very first night, as they were settling down, unpacked boxes covering most rooms, Sara had already gone to bed, but Paul, restless, had gone out to buy some beer. When he came back home, he heard noises and realized that his wife was being attacked! Coming to her rescue, he was able to clobber the man with a golf club and the man came after Paul, instead, but then decided just to flee.

It was that night, as the police were called and they were there to investigate, that Paul first met Roger Mallory, a neighbor and head of a local group that organized neighborhood watch patrols...for safer communities Unfortunately, the individuals who had been out on patrol that night had been too far away to hear, and help Sara.

With reluctance, Paul was slowly pulled into neighborhood activities and the watch patrol; but little by little, things had happened that made Paul suspicious. It was after Paul had confronted Roger and resigned from the watch patrol that the accusations against him were supposedly made by his neighbor’s daughter.

As Paul and his lawyer and staff track backwards over what had led to his arrest, a tale of garbage/mail searches, video cameras and even routine home invasions came out. When the young girl kills herself, readers realize even more...some version of this could really happen!

This novel hits close to home...your home! It is scary just because of its realistic approach of incidents that you hear about every day—new jobs, new neighbors, neighborhood vandalism, gossip and its potential damage. Add to that a real crime that happened many years ago, never discovered, yet constantly resulting in day-to-date decisions by those involved, and you have a nightmare that goes well beyond monsters in the closet. For this nightmare takes place each day you live in the neighborhood!

G. A. Bixler
For Amazon Vine

The Unseen - Weirdly Wonderful!

The Unseen
By T. L. Hines
Thomas Nelson
386 Pages

The Unseen – Eerily Weird! Strangely compulsive! No matter how you describe T. L. Hines’ latest book to other readers, you’re going to fumble on adjectives. It’s not the typical horror, nor is it suspenseful or a good mystery. It has great action and keeps you turning the pages and in many ways it’s fascinating! But it is definitely—weird!

Lucas is a great main character, though he doesn’t have a last name, since he grew up in an orphanage. We meet him as he hangs in a hammock-sort of bed as he’s looking down on a lovely woman who is working at her desk. Lucas doesn’t have a steady job, he doesn’t have a home and he usually steals his meals out of break-room refrigerators. Right now he’s working temporarily as a dishwasher—he doesn’t need much money of course, so he stashes his pay in various abandoned buildings, where he’s found a cubbyhole that is safe. Right now, Lucas is living in a place near Howard University. He spends most days watching... After the offices close, he leaves his watching space to rummage in the refrigerator for dinner and he steals a picture of the young woman, with her two beautiful kids. The picture will become a symbol of family for him—a totem that he can look at, remember and with it be happy.

Lucas has no friends, except Sarea, who works at the same restaurant where he washes dishes. At the end of the day, they share a cigarette before leaving and going to their respective homes. This is the extent of the relationship.

Readers will compulsively become involved in Lucas’ life!

Deep in the middle of one night, Lucas awakes to a scraping sound! Someone has invaded his place—he is currently staying inside one of the underground tunnels attached to the university’s steam plant. Seeing a light, he moves to find the infiltrator. He realizes right away that the individual is a creeper. “A creeper is someone who loved to explore the hidden spaces” in buildings.

And that’s when he met Donovan...

A member of the Creep Club...

The Creep Club infiltrates private homes as well as public buildings. They tape occupants. And if they happen to see domestic violence happening, they hope the get to tape a murder...

As you can imagine the characters in the creep club...are creepy...

But so are the “good guys!” In fact, Lucas has a hard time deciding who the good guys are! Especially when he meets two that have his face! Or the ghost that is singing to him from the grave! Readers will be caught in the same guessing game, trying hard to keep up with what is going to happen next, especially when Lucas has a bomb attached to his leg, which is set to go off at a certain time unless it is reset!

I admit it...I thoroughly enjoyed reading this weirdly wonderful book! Somehow all of these strange characters are molded together, resulting in a unique story that is captivating! In many ways, it is a “good over evil” kind of book, but no matter what...it’s still weird!

If you liked my review...I highly recommend you get the book! You’ll be glad you did!

G. A. Bixler
A Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger