Review: A Very Depressing Suspense Story
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 19, 2014
The story outline seemed intriguing to me. A man loses his wife to an affair with one of his psychotherapy patients. Arthur is dying of brain cancer and by coincidence his patient, Richard needs a place to live after losing his position as a surgeon at the same hospital where Arthur's wife was also employed as a physician.Arthur is declining rapidly but he still has enough mental audacity to plan Richard's demise. But the race is on and the Grim Reaper is gaining ground every hour.Every character in this book has a grief stricken back story. The only happy story might be rose who keeps a rare tropical plant that takes up one whole bedroom. If it is not carefully attended..it too will die a miserable death.Author Khan loves details. He will give you more than you really need to know about every thing including in bold type, TEN LIFE LESSONS  learned from his father.There is tension and plenty of things going wrong in this 100 year old Condo but there is too much repetition of the floodingScene, the headaches, and the flashbacks. Way too much .description.The author needs brevity. Find a way to say more by saying less.The author depends on coincidence too often. Example: He hires a  Private Investigator to find His wife's parents. It takes five years but they are found in the Ukraine and flown to the US so that they may attend Martha's 40th Birthday. Theirtaxi is broadsided and they are killed just blocks away from the party.Just one of the unnecessary scenes adding more depression to the story.The chapters don't flow well. Not all the scenes are causally and believabley  tied to the ones that precede and follow them.Transitions are not smooth. The story is choppy.The ending is too predictable and contrived. The story was moved forward by relentless action rather than being tension driven. The ending was inevitable.In my opinion the book appears to be a first draft . It would have benefited by submission to an editor .The author gifted the book to me with his request for my reviewand I appreciate his confidence. I hope he continues his writing efforts as it does seem he has talent and desire .Review by Roger Shepherd