Review: Amazing Psych Thriller
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 1, 2014
I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.The Wronged Sons by John Marrs immerses readers into a fable that has the power to make confessionals out of family dinners in an effort to not repeat Simon Nicholson’s mistake. The story opens in the present when Simon reappears on his wife’s doorstep after disappearing 25 years earlier. He left his business, his children, and his wife without a good-bye letter, just vanished, leaving Catherine as an unemployed single mother with 3 young children. The tale told from Catherine and Simon’s point of views recounts the lives of each, crescendoing until both appear guilty of misdeeds, but the climax isn't reached until Marrs throws in one more gasp-worthy twist.As the characters reveal themselves empathy swaps allegiance. Simon portrays himself as moral and just. Yet, his arrogance and mistrust of women plows a life littered with death and depression. He’s too confident in what he believes is right to see past his own assumptions: Because what he had never considered in all that time they were apart was that he might have got it wrong.Catherine begins as a wilted inept mother too weighed down by her husband’s disappearance to care for her children.  Her determination to preserve her children’s sanity and to provide for them unveil a woman whose strength and capacity for love demonstrates how much Simon gave up by making his assumptions: But that’s what love is, Simon. It’s never giving up on the person you've given your heart to; it’s having faith that no matter how tough things get, that person will always be looking for you.The apologue’s lesson is the importance of clear and straight communication between partners. Miscommunication in marriage is as inevitable as the rising sun; yet, as Catherine and Simon’s tale evangelizes, untangling misunderstandings may create ripples in a marriage, but not confronting them can create a class 4 tsunami.In an interview with Star from the Bibliophilic Blog, Marrs said “I love to read a good twist that throws me off kilter.” His début psychological thriller gives readers just that.~review originally posted at pagecravings.com