Review: Haunting....
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 28, 2013
“Just Beneath the Surface 2” is not a continuation of the story told in the first novel. Ramsey, in her new outing, brings us newly tragic characters with uniquely different and frequently chilling problems. Whatever I expected going into this novel, I did not expect the story that Ramsey expertly unravels. “Just Beneath the Surface” is exactly what it implies. You’ve known these people or heard of them or seen them but little can you imagine the turmoil and real dysfunction that boils in their soul.As the novel developed I didn’t want to feel sorry for either of the main characters. Seven was a woman who would snap if you looked at her sideways. I was watching the VH-1 show “Mama Drama” the other night and she would have fit perfectly with the cast. Seven is vividly written. I know this woman. I may never before known what she was thinking or have known why she did what she did but like the people in Seven’s life, I would have been tempted to not think beyond what was going on and refer to her as crazy. Landon is a more complicated prospect but no less expertly written. He has suffered a deep trauma. Not only was he abused as a child but throughout his life he has been judged and maligned and because of that he chooses women who he perceives as needing him desperately. The story opens with his coming home to find his drug addicted girlfriend overdosing and going through a clearly time worn ritual of shocking her and then making her warm.“Just Beneath the Surface 2” is a novel of extreme ups and downs. Within the narrative are great anger, great suffering, great joy and great loss. Landon and Seven evolve as the story progresses in a shockingly realistic way. Ramsey comments within the narrative, or so it seems, on mans cruelty to man. Any of us who have been online for more than five minutes can see a parallel. People say the things that cut the deepest and then laugh with derision at the reaction. They hate each other for the smallest things and never is a thought given to the pain and damage lurking under the skin. Ramsey does the impossible in “Just Beneath the Surface” in making us feel for and weep for those lost souls who may seem to be the least sympathetic. Does that mean we should ever let someone choose our path? Never but we should reach out in sympathy and compassion to those who can be saved and identify with the turmoil within. We should open our eyes to our fellow man and help who we can each day.R.H. Ramsey’s writing style is beautiful and hauntingly real. We build a relationship with Landon and Seven in her writing and when the time comes we wonder what we could have done to help. This is a work to be savored. A tragic masterpiece. Pick it up today.What most impressed me about this book was how carefully Ramsey plotted the abuser. He’s about control. He references Kendall’s former model status and he’s clearly insecure in his relationship with her. Each time something happens he says the right things. They curl up and talk and he pampers her and for a few days everything is okay until the next time there’s an imperceptible slight. Kendall must tell him that she loves him in a certain way, quit her job so he’s her only interaction.The only issue I had with this book is that Kendall did not seem capable of being alone. She goes to the new domestic situation very quickly. I would have liked for her, just for herself, to have some time to depend on herself but I can see how that might not have worked within the storyline. I can also see how that is really what people do. I have known more than one person who got married the day their divorce was finalized (or the day after). Nothing like taking time for self-evaluation.The reader may be looking at this review thinking that I’m really spoiling this novel. This is not half of what the reader will experience. There’s also an intense sense of danger. Will this be the ultimate cautionary tale? Will it cause you to look at your neighbors and wonder what is beneath the surface?