War Story

Amanda Hodgkinson's "22 Britannia Road" is a compelling post war story.  Silvana and Janusz are reuniting in England in 1946 after having been separated for 6 long years by the war.

They were living in Warsaw with their son, Aurek, when the invasion began.  Janusz left them to join up with Polish and Russian forces to fight the Germans.  As a result of a bombing raid he doesn't make it to the army post and decides to abandon the army. This begins his journey towards France.  Eventually he does join the British army and settles in a small English village after the war.  At that point he sends for his wife and child.

Meanwhile, Silvana and Aurek fled Warsaw ahead of the Germans.  They wandered the countryside looking for somewhere safe to wait out the war.  They ended up living with a band of fellow refugees in the forest that were hiding from the soldiers.  Eventually they were left, just the two of them, to live off what the forest provided.

As they come together post-war they must try and mesh their lives together.  Each harbors secrets of what happened to them during the war.  They both struggle with the urge to tell and the urge to keep silent.

The story switches between the present (1946) time at 22 Britannia Road and their separate wartime experiences.  Will they be able to put aside the past and forge a new life together?  The novel is rather haunting in it's descriptions of that war torn era.  The mixing of the past and present builds the momentum that keeps the pages turning in a need to discover the truth.

Fighting Crime

Zach Fortier's "CurbChek" is a gritty, fictional account of actual calls that Zach was assigned to during a 28 year career as a police officer.  The novel is written in the style of a memoir and takes you into the day to day life of an officer on the streets.  They see the darker side that most of us, hopefully, never encounter.

We're shown the precinct politics and pecking orders that make an already difficult job even more complicated.  The cases span his career and illustrate the change in mindset from a rookie cop to a veteran on the force.  There's everything from domestic violence, drug gangs and drive-by's to prostitution and date rape.  Zach uses common sense and compassion with the criminals to defuse situations as opposed to escalating them with hotheaded heavy handedness.

"CurbChek" definitely gives you a greater appreciation for what our police officers encounter while keeping our communities safe.  It's a fascinating read and I recommend it to anyone interested in learning what it would be like to be on the ground fighting crime and keeping us safe.

A Taste of Terror

If you like being scared and you like short stories, you need to read Jeff Bennington's "Murdoch's Eyes"!  It starts with a date that turned bad for Gina.  She hadn't known the good looking man with the brilliant green eyes would end up being so freaky.  She flees the party but somehow Murdoch is in her mind and controlling her. Things rapidly go from bad to worse and she ends up in his lair where she encounters his very deformed brother.  What is she there for?  What will happen next?

I never spoil a story so you will need to read it to find out.  It's well worth it.  There's a bit of everything - creepiness, deformities, paranormal powers, strong minded heroine.  You won't be disappointed.