Review: Beautifully written!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 5, 2012
Torn: Sixty Days of Calaboose by Tracy James Jones is a heart-rending, fictional memoir of Adrian Bailey. Jailed on the basis of extremely nebulous pretenses, manipulated and lied to by a number of authority figures, Bailey learns to navigate the rocky waters of his incarceration. Readers travel with him as he does what is necessary to survive, finding the most amazing array of human emotions in himself and his fellow inmates - hope, love, humor, courage and the limits of sanity.Many would rather die than go to a place like the United Rural Farmers Detention Center (URFDC), which is where Bailey finds himself. What's worse is that he is beautiful, effeminate, and emotional, marking him as distinct among the aggressive populace of the jail. He has always been law abiding and has never experienced anything such as what he encounters in URFDC.The characters and events in Torn: Sixty Days of Calaboose might have worked in different genres, but the author successfully uses the plot and fictitious characters to enter the mind of Adrian Bailey as he finds his grasp on rationality slipping away - even as he's self-aware of it's painful, protracted exit. What this lamb in the lion's den clings to is love and the belief that he will be free.Tracy James Jones has created a beautifully written journey through the darkest parts of the soul, via the intelligent, gentle heart of Adrian Bailey. Torn: Sixty Days of Calaboose is as visceral as it is addictive. One is simply compelled to flip the screen. Anyone who has ever found themselves in a tough situation, through no fault of their own will relate.