Genre: Thriller
Description:
“As an LDS elder, Louie Kimble, is assigned as construction foreman in
Testimony Acres, a high-end real estate development, fifty miles north of Las
Vegas. He discovers it’s a money laundering scheme put together by his
religious superiors. Confronted by the FBI, he agrees to provide evidence and
testify in exchange for his freedom.
After surgery to fix an unfortunate resemblance to a domesticated
animal, he is given a new name and history and relocated to South Jersey. He
rebuilds his life, with a girlfriend, a great job, and season tickets to the
local pro football team.
Then one bright Saturday morning, there is a knock on his front door.
His visitor will bring back his past, and change his life forever.”
Author:
“Tom Minder lives in southern New Jersey, with his wife Paula, and
writes novels and short fiction.”
For more, check out his blog and like his Facebook page.
Appraisal:
The overall plot of this book is one with plenty of appeal to a
thriller reader. Young adult man gets himself sucked into a questionable, illegal
situation. (That he got into this situation due to trusting his church leaders
only makes his situation more sympathetic.) This bad situation culminates in our
protagonist helping the FBI convict the culprits and he goes into the witness
protection program, relocates, and gets his life on the right track. At least
it is going great until something unexpected shakes things up. What that is and
how it all works out is, of course, the last two thirds of the book and saying
much more would be a spoiler, so I won’t. I’ll just say that for some (even
many) people who think this sounds appealing, odds are good you’ll enjoy this
book.
My personal experience was different and I suspect anyone who has had
any significant exposure to Mormons (or as they now prefer to be called,
members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) are going to notice
things that sound wrong. For example, Louie Kimble’s situation going in is not
clear. It seems to be implied that he is on some official assignment from the
church, possibly a mission, when he begins working at the real estate
development near Las Vegas, for example. Various terms are used that seem to
imply that, but they don’t. For example, multiple times the term “Leader” is
used, which is meaningless in the context it is used. Sometimes the title bishop
is used or misused, seeming to be trying to imply some authority. A bishop is
the leader of a specific congregation and would have no authority outside of
that small circle. (One of the few, maybe only times, that the title bishop
would have been the correct one, the character uses the term “Ward Leader”
instead.) All of this makes those characters who are supposedly Mormon seem
fake and blew my ability to suspend disbelief. Had the author made up his own
religion and fake terms, I’d have bought into this. Had he gotten someone with an
understanding of the Mormon culture and terminology to get things right, it
would have been great. But as it stands anyone with any significant exposure to
the Mormon religion or its culture including the vast majority of residents of
the Mountain States in the US will find themselves cringing and mentally stumbling
as they read this.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
Format/Typo
Issues:
Review is based on an Advanced Readers Copy and thus I can’t gauge the
final product in this area.
Rating: ***
Three Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count: 40-45,000 words
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