Customer Reviews

Raveling: A Novel

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've never before written an Amazon review. But I've read many of them, for many different books, and I've always been amazed at the way five stars have been tossed around. I can count on one hand the books I've read in my life that would earn five stars. So let me give you my reasons for the five stars: Five stars for surprise. For humanity. For suspense. For deftness with the language. For the fact that it's Sunday at noon and I haven't done a damn thing all morning but finish this book. Five stars for the belief that there are still novels out there which can take you on a hair-raising ride and still be written so masterfully. Five stars then, for the hope.

Pilot Airie may be losing his mind.

Twenty years ago, Pilot's sister, Fiona, disappeared without a trace. Nothing has been the same since. The disappearance caused his family to unravel; his father left, his brother grew distant, and his mother is seeing ghosts. Pilot has now taken it upon himself to pull it all together again, assuming that he doesn't unravel first.

Raveling is a genuinely gripping and eloquent debut novel by Peter Moore Smith. This novel has the basic structure of a mystery - an unsolved disappearance, puzzled and puzzling characters, suspicions on all sides - but it is more a psychological exploration than a straight mystery. Smith doesn't focus on the details of the disappearance. This is not a book with detailed passages on forensics or lab reports. His focus is on the characters and their interactions.

The story begins as Pilot returns home from California, where his brother found him living on a beach. With his mother losing her vision, Pilot has agreed to live at home to help her. All is going well until he begins to hear voices: the electricity in light bulbs is talking to him, the woods behind the house beckon to him.

Eventually Pilot is hospitalized. There, his counselor Katherine takes an interest in his case. As she probes deeper into his past, trying to find a trigger for his psychotic episode, she becomes fascinated with the stories of his lost sister. What could have caused her disappearance? Who could have taken her without leaving a single trace? As she digs deeper into Pilot's memories things really start to get interesting.

Raveling is an unusual mystery. It starts slowly, as if the reader has stepped into a story already in progress. But the deeper into the book readers get, the deeper the mystery becomes, and the greater the urge to read on. Unlike many mysteries, in which the unfolding of the story provides a greater and greater understanding, Raveling offers little in the way of clues. This is primarily due to the fact that the protagonist, Pilot, may not be entirely sane.

Yet Pilot's struggle with his sanity is one of the most intriguing and appealing aspects of the book. The entire story is told from his point of view, the point of view of a medicated schizophrenic. If he himself cannot be certain of the facts, cannot be sure of his own perceptions, how can the reader? There are times when the reader must ponder the question, "Is this a clue or a delusion?" This uncertainty adds immensely to the pleasure of reading this book. Smith's descriptions of Pilot's deluded world view are beautifully written and captivating, providing insight into his state of mind.

If you enjoy a literary mystery, or enjoy discovering a talented new writer, Raveling may be the book for you.

Pilot Airie is schizophrenic, his mother Hannah is a hand specialist, and his brother Eric, a neurosurgeon. The Airie family holds a secret...what happend to Pilot's little sister, Fiona, some twenty years earlier?

After one of the Airie's parties, Fiona mysteriously disappears, the only clue is her shoe, found in the woods behind their house.

The mystery of the disappearance has haunted Pilot his whole life, now forcing him to confront his own demons, as well as exposing the secrets of his family members, to find out what happened the night his sister disappeared.

As a result of an "episode", Pilot begins seeing psychologist, Katherine Jane DeQuincey-Joy. During their sessions Pilot will tell the disturbing tale of his sister's disappearance. He will tell of his mother seeing ghost's, and he will tell of a dark side that brother Eric hides so well.

Pilot must find his sister's killer, and put an end to the madness that eats at him day after day.

WOW..."Raveling" is amazing. I can't believe this is the author's first novel. The story is creepy, the characters chilling, a totally compulsive read. It is not likely to find a better psychological thriller this year.

The book is written from Pilot's point of view and readers are kept guessing if he is telling the truth. The book plays mind games with the reader, making you believe something one minute, and then changing your mind the next.

Peter Moore Smith has written an original thriller that should immediately land on the bestseller list's.

Reader's be warned, once begun, you will not put the book down until you finish it.

A MUST read!

Nick Gonnella

The Airie family was already dysfunctional; when the youngest member seven-year-old Fiona vanished without a trace. Two decades later the matriarch begins to hear her daughter's voice. Fiona's schizophrenic older brother Pilot believes his hated brother Eric, a brilliant surgeon, killed their sibling.

Pilot decides to prove Eric murdered Fiona. However, no one believes the word of a medically recognized schizoid, who doubts his own conviction. Yet Pilot claims to have hard core evidence. However, did he attain the proof from Eric? Perhaps he always possessed the murder weapon since even he wonders at time if he, not Eric, is Fiona's killer.

RAVELING is a fantastic psycholigcal thriller that never eases up on the tension throttle as a cat and mouse game unravels, but readers do not know who plays which role. The audience realizes that one of the brothers probably killed their sister, but which one remains the puzzler. The audience constantly switches sides as to whom that murderer is due to Peter Moore Smith deliberately and cleverly changing the perspective. This tale is more than just a taut chiller. It will land on everyone's top five list for the year.

Harriet Klausner

Peter Moore Smith has written a terrific book, full of suspense, interesting, quirky characters, a great finale. I hated myself for finishing it so fast. I would like to have known more about the hyphenated psychologist, but I realize I wouldn't have been satisfied if this book had been 1000 pages. I hope Mr. Smith is busy writing another book. I will recommend 'Raveling' to everyone. My only problem now - how can I start another book with Pilot and his crazy family still in my head?

In retrospect, this book was wonderful. If I'm not hooked within the first few pages of a book, I will often put it down. I felt like this book got off to a "strange" start. That is the only reason I didn't give it five stars. However, once I got past the first 30 or 40 pages, I couldn't put it down!

I read this book when it first was published in 2000, and was so riveted from the first page I missed my subway stop and came to somewhere in Queens. Rereading it, the same thing happened (only I wasn't on the subway) - it felt like getting drunk, or falling in love. Just - wow! The narration is amazing, but unusual. The first person narrator actually says he's omniscient, and he often describes events he can't possibly have witnessed, sometimes even assuming his brother's voice. It's hard to tell how much to believe, given the narrator is hospitalized early on in the story, diagnosed as schizophrenic. It doesn't add to his credibility that, when he was a child and his younger sister disappeared without a trace, he spent a certain amount of time not speaking, but crawling around on his hands and knees, a growling "wolfboy." This distubred kid, now an adult, insists his brother killed his sister, even after the meds start to calm his delusional state and he stops hearing the light fixtures talking to him. His psychologist (who needs therapy badly herself) wonders about his claims and begins to piece together what really happened to the little girl whose disappearance years ago caused this family to unravel. Some of it's pretty brutal, much of it is wrenchingly sad, a lot of it is surprisingly funny, and all of it is brilliantly, beautifully written. One of the most original, most involving stories I've ever read.

What a strange and delicious journey....the twists and turns through this mind and that.... We are taken on this journey of discovery, a healing journey, of sorts, by our "unraveled" co-pilot, Pilot Airie..as we seek to discover the mystery of his little sister's disappearance decades before. Thread by thread, memory by distorted memory, we wind our way back with Pilot to the moment when reality shattered the past and future into a jumble of frayed fragments. The mind can be both fragile and resilient. What a wonderful weaving Peter Moore Smith has done with this book. I'm most eager to come along on his next journey.

We all understand the concept of unraveling - "to disengage or separate the threads of" (Websters), but this novel explores the title concept of raveling, or rejoining those separated threads. In this instance it is the threads of Pilot Airie's sanity that are rejoining to discover the truth about a family tragedy. This novel works well - complex characters, well crafted plot, and deep suspense - but it is the literary quality of the writing that make this novel memorable.

Two brothers, Eric and Pilot, grew up together but their lives took two very different paths. Eric became a successful doctor, while Pilot ended up unemployed and a diagnosed schizophrenic. After a particular nasty psychotic break, Pilot ends up in the hospital and claims to have information about the disappearance of his sister many years ago. Is there any truth in what Pilot has to say, or is it a delusion?

The story is told in the first person, through the perspective of Pilot. What makes this a bit different is that Pilot it omniscient, so we are still privy to what's going on with other characters. I found this a bit strange at first, but it didn't take me long to get used to it.

The whole issue of Pilot's sanity is fascinating, and it's dealt with in a real and interesting manner. The mystery is compelling, and the characters are well-developed. This an original novel that shouldn't be missed.