Review: Old School Storytelling
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 31, 2012
About the Aspen 2-Million Winner-Take-All by John Morris,  I had no idea what the book would bring so far as entertainment is concerned. Well, let me tell you, every great once in a while, you get a book written by a storyteller of the old school. You are entertained from cover-to-cover. Although those books are hard to find sometimes, they usually find you when you least expect them. This happened to me with this book. Pure entertainment, and unbelievable craftmanship by an author that I didn't know. From page one, Morris had me hooked and soon I was thrilled to be in possession of The Aspen 2-Million Winner-Take-All.Morgan, the main character, owns a sort of "lived-in" house in Aspen, Colorado, in the elite section called the West End. He was a popular chap, had a little business going for himself, and thought life was going somewhere.True enough, it was. His rather stand-offish neighbor, Risa, became his worst nightmare when her dog suddenly turns up missing and eventually discovered dead. Poor Morgan wasn't even around when the deed happened, but of course, he was blamed.  Not only blamed, but threatened with a million dollar lawsuit and a promise to run him out of town on a rail, as they say.He wasn't too worried about the lawsuit and the million bucks, but he was pretty upset about the forced out of town business. He had roots in Aspen. And a man uprooted, is well, like a dead tree.His best shot at getting Risa over her million dollar temper tantrum was to win a golf tournament. Not just any tournament, mind you, but one that had a 2-million dollar winning pot. Either that or find out what the woman's worst secret was and blackmail her.Like that would ever happen!Then again, his best friend and legal advisor, Justin, said, "Make her fall in love with you," and herein we have the lead-in to door number three.Well, let me tell you, what follows is the best romp of a read I've had in years.  Mr. Morris is funny, but not in a slapstick way. His writing flows so well, you are engrossed in the story and don't even realize how he managed to captivate you. He is a master at getting out of the way of the story and letting it live. The situations in this book are so well-written, I could truly imagine being out in the snow looking at that house of Morgan's.  In fact, I stood side-by-side with this character and felt every ill-timed moment as they happened. Yes, Morris is that good at making you a part of this tale.Thank you John, for writing a book that took me out of my dreary day and allowed me to watch someone else wiggle through life. I hope to never have the problems that poor Morgan did, but after reading your book, I feel like I went through it all vicariously anyway.