Customer Reviews

Improbable Solution

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Reviewed by Joe Graham for Reader Views (3/07)

G.L. Rockey's book, "Time and Chance," is an intriguing mix of murder, television executives, mobsters, organ donation scams and country western singers in Nashville, Tennessee. TV-12 News Director Jack Carr is dealing with the death of his wife and a seemingly clueless station owner, Berry Frazer by becoming too acquainted with Jack Daniels. Berry inherited the station from his father and seems to be intent into running the business into the ground. Berry has gotten himself in trouble with Mike "Snakebite" Walker, the albino owner of the Felix the Cat nightclub. To take care of his debt to Walker, he has agreed to let Walker's "girlfriend" Peggy Moore, a blonde country western singer take over the weather duties at the station. Of course, this only adds to the problems of the station for Carr and the other station employees. Berry thinks that Moore is just great and he can't understand why the ratings are disappearing through the floor. To further complicate things, Moore has developed a crush on Carr which he has to deal with without Walker or Frazer finding out.

Carr seems to want to complicate his life and shorten it as he likes to hang out at the Felix the Cat, even though an encounter with Snakebite and his goons might not be the best thing for Carr's health. And while he is hanging out the "Cat," he develops an attraction for a new kitten, named Gillian. But Gillian is not who she seems to be. She is actually an undercover agent for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. She is investigating an organ donor ring that Snakebite seems to be involved in. Carr and his investigative reporter, Sago Yu are working on the same case. All of the twists and turns of the plot are satisfactorily resolved with the required surprises along the way.

As Jack Carr would say - "Time and chance are mixed up with a fickle free will thing, and the exclusive consequences are stuck on the smell of humanity forever."

"Time and Chance" is an enjoyable read for any mystery fan and the setting in a floundering television station makes for a different setting from the usual mystery. My only criticism of the book would be that the author took a little too long getting to the organ donor ring part of the plot. The character development of Carr, Berry, Snakebite, Moore and Gillian was very good and they are memorable characters, but I was eager to get to the meat of the plot.

Book received free of charge.

By TT reviewer Irene Marshall

Gus Loring has been wandering the country, going from job to job, for several years in an attempt to escape his memories. While delivering dry cleaning, he visits Whiterock, Oregon and meets some of the locals, including Sally Carruthers. Sally has given up her business in costume designing to return to Whiterock and care for her dying mother. She stays, after her mother's death, to care for her father when he is diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.

Soon Gus is living in Whiterock and working in a garage. When the owner wants to retire, he asks Gus to buy him out. Gus agrees, but in his mind, he has no intention of staying there, as the memories are still with him and he knows that he'll move on when they get too bad.

Soon he and Sally enter into an affair, which the whole town knows about and seems to approve of. Strange things are beginning to happen to the town. A landmark statue is repaired, the bandstand in the park is repaired and repainted and the abandoned stores on Main Street are suddenly looking less rundown. But there's no explanation of how these things are being done.

Gus continues to deny to himself that there is anything lasting going on between him and Sally. When Sally tells him that she loves him, he decides to leave, now. But can he? Throughout the entire story there is an "alien" voice that keeps cropping up, to the reader only, and when Gus tries to leave, something seems to want him to stay.

This is one of the most unusual and entertaining stories that I've read in years. The characters are so real that they could be anyone in your own life. I grew up in a small town, and as it died we saw the same results as are described on the story. Unfortunately, we didn't have an "alien voice" to help. This author has such descriptive abilities that the reader feels the emotions of the characters and the ending was so unexpected that it really gave me goosebumps. Made me rethink living in small towns.

I'll be recommending this book to several of my friends and looking for more by Ms. Glad. This is the first that I've read by her but believe me, it won't be the last.

By...reviewer Nancy Williams... for the surprise of her life when she shows up for her job interview to find that the man she'll be working under is no stranger. (That's the understatement of the century!) Scott Richards is the man she fell for-hard- four years earlier, even ending her long time marriage when she realized it lacked one essential ingredient, romantic love.

In fact, four years earlier, she and Scott symbolically bound themselves together with gold rings in a Celtic knot design, signifying a never-ending bond.

But he didn't keep his promise to wait for her the two months she needed to let her husband down gently. And in fact, when she tried to find Scott, he seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth.

Now he's materialized living with Francine, a beautiful, but insecure woman, and playing father to her precocious four-year old daughter. He's been trying convince her to marry him, because he's particularly close to the child, but for some unknown reason, she still balks at the idea, even three years later. And to complicate things further, Francine's father owns the firm.

Naively, Scott and Carolyn plan to put the past behind them and work together, but the ghosts of the past aren't easily cast aside. When things go sour for Scott and Francine, she runs to her brother-in-law, Bill, a slick opportunist, who would like nothing better than to ruin Scott and move into his prestigious position.

Francine, upset when she realizes Scott lied about the past he and Carolyn share, finds and gives Bill just the ammunition he needs to prove their liaison and undermine the owner's trust in Scott.

When Francine dies suddenly, she leaves chaos in her wake. With no marriage license to legitimize the union, Francine's parents take the child and leave Scott to fall apart. Emotionally needy now, he appears at Carolyn's door, hoping for a connection.

But Carolyn is angry, seeing him as an immature man with many issues to resolve before she can ever trust him again. What is it that makes him so insecure?

Threats, deception and blackmail force them to take steps they could never imagine, as things deteriorate. Will the emotional roller coaster never end? Will they learn to understand each other, and rebuild the shattered trust of their past?

Author Mary Taffs spins a convincing yarn, filled with unexpected twists and turns, misunderstandings, and half-truths for her star-crossed lovers. They admit to not taking time to learn to trust each other before falling in love, an unfortunate but fortunately not a fatal mistake. And you and I get a ringside seat as the action unfolds. A riveting and satisfying read for a cool autumn night.