This novella is the tale of a man named John. This story is told from a third person omniscient point of view. The story opens on John dreaming about performing his suicide. We quickly find out several important facts about John: John is a sales rep who makes money making deals between his and other companies, John has a wife named Jackie and a son named Jason, and all is not as it seems in this “happy family.”

John works hard to provide for his family often making personal sacrifices to benefit his son, who is his world. Jackie, a self-entitled party girl, who doesn’t seem to work and is never home, frequently spends all the family finances and blames John. She frequently makes him feel inadequate as a man, abuses him, frames him for abusing her, and calls the police on him. John, who loves his wife and wants everything to work out, often lays down and takes the blows.

Overall, I was not a fan of the story. I found myself hating Jackie for being a manipulative jerk and getting annoyed at John for being a push over and not standing up for himself or leaving her. I have a few qualms about some finer points the author made regarding Jason being 10 years old but in high school and on the football team.  The story was a piece of timeline out of the life of a person, therefore the forward action of the story was slow, and the climax felt like a repeated scene. The nature of the text not being my typical genre choice I found it difficult to get through and stay focused. However, the writing style was good, and I found the story flowed well on a liner time line. 

FINAL SCORE: 3/5

More importantly, if you or someone you know is struggling with suicide, depression, self-harm or addiction, please feel free to reach out, use any of our resources, call the suicide life line: 1-800-273-8255 or text 741-741.

GUEST REVIEWER: Erica Burkey