Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Pain’s Joke / Chuck Hunter


Reviewed by: Pete Barber

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Approximate word count: 30-35,000 words

Availability    
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: YES  Paper: YES
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Chuck Hunter lives in Northeast Ohio with his two kids. When he's not writing, he enjoys hiking, fishing, backpacking, and tending to his Wabash Irises. Pain's Joke is his first book.

Description:

Jonas Pike, a twelve year old boy born with a facial disfigurement, struggles to find his place in the world.

Appraisal:

I had trouble staying engaged with this story. Jonas was a sympathetic character, but his stereotypical drunken loser of a step-father and his too-forgiving mother came across as rather two-dimensional to me. The story involves a disgraced preacher who acts as the catalyst that forces the resolution of the tale, but I found the ending odd, abrupt, and leaving too many unanswered questions.

Not for me, I’m sorry to say. 

Format/Typo Issues:

This is listed in YA categories on Amazon, but it does contain a rather graphic rape scene.

Rating: *** Three stars

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