Monday, August 27, 2012

Powerboat Racer by Thomas Hollyday



At first when I picked this book up from the shelf, I wondered what to expect. The cover didn't seem to draw me in as much as other covers do, (this is always something I make note of, even when like in this case, the cover ended up being quite fitting for the book), and I have to admit, it wasn't the kind of book that jumped out at me from page 1, or even page 2.
I can usually finish a book in a couple hours, depending on how long they are of course, but sometimes when they seem slightly, "boring", I tend to start doing other things and come back to it later. Which was what I thought I would be doing with this book. But, it really started to pick up after a few pages, and you start to get to know the main character well.
Harry Jacobsen, is a well, regular guy, with a regular life. he is an editor for a small weekly paper on the Chesapeake. Harry is from New York, and recently was fired from an investigative reporter job, which seemed to embarrass and upset him pretty much. So, he decided to leave the Big Apple, for a much quieter town in Maryland.
Like many other towns, not much really happens there, especially anything real interesting. When a few teens come across the sunken hulk of a racing boat, that was 30 years old, he didn't really expect near what he got from this small town story.
The book really starts to take off, and ends up being about, Walker John Douglas, and the 2 women he killed 30 years earlier, burnt down half the town, and crashed his vessel.
There were a lot of parts of this book that reminded me a lot of a long time favorite of mine, To Kill A Mockingbird, not that the author tried to re do that story by any means, but it is a similar type of book. Racism and racial unrest, are a common issue in the world, 30 years ago, and today. I admire this author for writing such a book, due to the fact that not everybody would accept it, nor would they want to read a book about racial unrest. But this shouldn't upset anybody, as it is written very well, very carefully and professionally.
Harry's presence in this little town, and his investigations of what was once thought and believed to be true about this ordeal, ends up really stirring the place up and ends up being quite a suspenseful book.
The way this book was written, fascinated me, since it started so slowly, and ends up being a story you wish would never end. I've read many, many books through my life, and this is truly one of a kind in this sense.
I often say, never judge a book by it's cover, and I apologize if you read my book reviews and you may have seen this said before, but this is one of those books. It may look like just a book, a story about racing boats, but there is much, much more to this book!
I was curious about this author, and wanted to see if there are more books out there that he wrote. Sure enough, I found his biography on Amazon, and found that he really has an awesome set of books that sound nothing but interesting!
You can read more about Thomas Hollyday here, and scroll down to check out the rest of his books! He has quite the busy life, and seems to have a knack for writing books that have their own distinct, challenging type settings that the author is very passionate about. Anything from nuclear war, to homelessness, to racial issues, Thomas Hollyday has a rare talent with starting off with what you think is just a book, and yet turns it around within a blink of an eye, and now you're reading what will most likely end up being a classic novel.
** I received a copy of this book in return for my honest review **

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