Tattered Lives

The Guise of Another: A Crime Novel by Allen Eskens (Seventh Street Books, $15.95, 269 pages)

Allen Eskens’ The Guise of Another is indicative of a man with a future writing crime novels. Having reviewed many of these books, my experience indicates that writers can slip into many traps – rely solely on plot with no legitimate character development, rely almost exclusively on dialogue to tell the story, interject stray characters randomly to promulgate reader interest… (Insert your favorite criticism here.)

In Guise, Eskens’ delivery is so natural that it is read as a story with a crime element as a backdrop, and not as a stereotypical “crime novel.” A man with a stolen identity is murdered and Detective Alexander Rupert is handed what he perceives as a chance to salvage his sinking career. Big brother Max, also a cop, is called upon to perform heroic acts in the call of duty as he attempts to save Alex from himself. The story is set primarily in the twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Tattered lives hang in the balance and, of course, judgment is clouded when Alex falls under the spell of Ianna, who is enmeshed in the mystery and pursued by the evil Drago Basta. Just when the reader is convinced that she can predict the outcome, another subtle twist hits the story. While the ending is not quite perfect, it certainly satisfies.

Guise, a quite excellent read, is a follow up to The Life We Bury. Congratulations to Eskens for conceiving of it!

Highly recommended.

Dave Moyer

A review copy was provided by the publisher.

Dave Moyer is a public school administrator in Illinois, and is the author of Life and Life Only: A Novel.

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Over The Top and Far Away

The player accepts, even welcomes, the pain he will suffer, a sacrifice for the good of the team. Just like Jesus, come to think of it.

Tribal: College Football and the Secret Heart of America by Diane Roberts (Harper, $25.99, 246 pages)

This book might well have been titled Fear and Loathing in Tallahassee. In theory, this is a book about a person’s love and hate relationship with college football (“A great game or a waste of money…”), specifically Florida State University football. I say in theory because the writer’s Gonzo-style of journalism means that she’s all over the place – as if there’s no filter between her mind and what she places on a page. For example, Roberts spends some time on the topic of football and religion. Oh, yes. After quoting from Saint Paul in Corinthians 6:19 she writes:

“…the (football) player begins to use his body to inflict pain. Not like Jesus… The First Church of Christ Linebacker doesn’t hold with gentle Jesus meek and mild. The Lord is a tough, manly dude, and football is an allegory of the soul’s struggle against evil.”

Wow. Seriously?

It’s hard to tell if Roberts is putting everyone on – in the style of Hunter S. Thompson (Thompson once accused a major party’s presidential candidate of being an ibogaine addict), or if she’s simply being provocative for the sake of being so. This is a silly work which might have made for a mildly entertaining airline magazine article. But it’s not for the serious, grounded reader.

Joseph Arellano

A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book was released on October 27, 2015.