Mainstream Fiction

Eric Jerome Dickey

Dutton/Penguin Books

0-52594-724-8

May 2003

(4+) Dee Y. Stewart

PLOT SYNOPSIS: 

n his newest novel, Dickey strides boldly over the mine field that is modern marriage. The story sparkles with humor, honesty, and powerful compassion as a contemporary couple faces challenges that test their faith.

REVIEW: 

Freckles’ life is like a hamster on a wheel, a monotonous loop, desperately longing for her high powered career to slow down just long enough so that she can spend some quality time with her husband, Charles.  While he teaches, she sleeps; while she produces televised news, he sleeps.  Their relationship is out of sync, but she is too tired to see it.

However, she gets what she asks for in an unexpected way. A strange and unexpected call from David Lawrence puts an immediate brake on Freckles’ hamster wheel. He informs her that his wife, Jessica, and her husband are having an affair with intentions of leaving them both.

Freckles must find the truth about her marriage through David, to determine if it is worth saving. Through this journey she bonds with David, who helps her rediscover herself and helps her find the peace she longs for. 

Surprisingly, this is my first Eric Jerome Dickey novel, although most of my family and friends are huge fans of his works. Upon taking a deep breath of satisfaction at the end of the novel, I am smitten with EJD.

My only reservation is that some of the sexual content is not necessary for the novel. He is such a clever plot developer and character sketcher that some of these scenes take away the beauty and richness of his story. However there are moments that pulls me in faster than Neo flies in “Matrix: Reloaded” the movie.

Freckles shares with me her meeting with David Lawrence:

"David Lawrence takes his sweater away from me, does that slow and easy, the first step to undressing me, to undressing his enemy’s wife, and then rubs me before he puts his mouth on my shoulder…Still, I want to push him away, and I don’t want him to stop. I look back at him. He’s become my mirror, or I’ve become his. David Lawrence sees what I feel, closes his eyes, grits his teeth, the warmth of his angst a soft breeze on my neck."

Brilliant!

Eric Jerome Dickey’s newest novel is a fresh, crisp, and sizzling summer read with an ending that will haunt your soul for some time.

dee@romanceincolor.net (30th March 2003)