Strange but True [Hardcover]

John Searles (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 20, 2004

After a mysterious fall from his New York City apartment, Philip Chase has moved back home with his mother, Charlene, a bitter woman who has never fully accepted the death of her younger son, Ronnie, five years earlier. Numb from watching too much television, rereading a tragic biography, and trading snipes with his mother, Philip is in stasis.

But everything changes late one windy February night when Ronnie's high school girlfriend shows up on their doorstep. A sad young woman who still bears the scars of the accident that took Ronnie's life on the night of their prom, Melissa has unexpectedly found hope. She is nine months pregnant. And the father, she claims, is Ronnie.

So begins this startling tale, which moves from one breathless surprise to another as Philip and his mother confront not only Melissa's past but their own. Their desperate search for answers takes them on a poignant and emotional journey, ultimately placing them in the path of murder and revenge.

At once a moving story of redemption and a heart-stopping work of suspense, Strange but True confirms John Searles's place among the most gifted voices of his generation. Beautifully written and charged with a sublime wit, the novel brings to vibrant life a cast of characters that no reader will forget.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The world Searles (Boy Still Missing) presents in his second novel is exquisitely odd yet instantly recognizable, as strange but true as the hidden life of one's next-door neighbor. The novel moves in unexpected directions throughout, most notably morphing from a family drama into a kind of mystery/thriller, but its steady gravitational pull—readers should expect to stay up late for this one—testifies to the solidity of its bedrock impressions, cast by an author with extraordinary powers of observation. Searles opens on the night that Melissa Moody, girlfriend to Ronnie Chase, who died five years earlier in a car crash after their high school prom, visits the Chases to tell Ronnie's brother, Philip, and his cantankerous mother that she's pregnant—with, she's sure, Ronnie's child. That revelation spins both Philip and his mother into some sleuthing, of Melissa's situation—could she somehow have saved Ronnie's sperm?—and into their own hearts, ravaged by Ronnie's death and its bitter aftermath, which includes Philip's recent unexplained return to his hometown of Radnor, Pa., from Manhattan. The story shuttles among various point of views and between past and present as Searles peels back layers of concealment to reveal the truths behind the turns in various people's fates, and behind Melissa's claim. Yet while readers will enjoy traveling to the heart of the mystery, what they'll cherish most in this accomplished novel are its startling real characters, with even the minor players—an ambitious Polish librarian; a lonely, aging gay pet owner—all perfectly crafted. Searle's novel should find a wide and grateful readership.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–This novel is reminiscent of Dennis Lehane's Mystic River (Morrow, 2001) with its sharp, realistic character portrayal on top of a somewhat flawed mystery. On prom night, Ronnie Chase is killed when his limo crashes, and his girlfriend is left disfigured. Five years later, she arrives at the Chase house to tell the surviving members of his family that she is pregnant and that the baby is his. Though skeptical, they find themselves wishing that her claims were true and attempting to figure out how this could happen. Many characters share their points of view, from the Chases to Melissa to her landlords. Through these voices, their lives over the last five years are slowly revealed, and readers learn the truth behind the pregnancy. Searles has a great sense of pacing, parceling out bread crumbs of the story that entice readers to keep going. Some of his depictions are better than others–librarians in particular will find flaws in his portrayal of a suburban library branch–but on the whole, the characterization is rich and original. The prom setting, hints of the supernatural, and the satisfying if not entirely resolved ending all have solid teen appeal.–Jamie Watson, Harford County Public Library, MD

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; First Edition edition (July 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688175716
• ISBN-13: 978-0688175719
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,698,894 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "It has been five years, enough for most anyone to move on.", August 2, 2004

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Strange but True (Hardcover)

Melissa Moody has been grieving for five years, ever since a prom night accident in Radnor, Pennsylvania, killed Ronnie Chase, the only person she has ever loved. Scarred both physically and emotionally, Melissa lives alone, unable to work. Charlene Chase, Ronnie's mother, is also devastated by the accident, which contributed to her divorce, the loss of her job, and her binge eating. Though her older son Philip is recuperating at home in Radnor after a strange accident in which he fell from a fire escape in New York, Charlene has little interest in him, herself, or anything else. Suddenly, Charlene and Philip receive a middle-of-the-night phone call from Melissa Moody, whom neither of them has seen in five years. At two a.m., she arrives, nine months pregnant, announcing to Charlene and Philip that she is carrying Ronnie's baby, though Ronnie has been dead for five years.

Alternating between the present and five years in the past, author John Searles establishes the relationship between Ronnie and Melissa, their activities on the night of the prom, and the relationship each has with his/her parents. At the same time, he reveals through specific, homely details, the hopelessness and squalor of Melissa's and Charlene's present lives--their lack of hygiene, their untidy living conditions, and their total disinterest in the present world. Melissa has taped Ronnie's photographs to the dashboard of her trash-filled car and still has her prom corsage in her freezer, while Charlene has made a shrine of Ronnie's room and refuses to let anyone enter it. Philip, the living son, is ignored, though he has been living an equally hopeless life in New York.

As Philip and his mother try to deal with the mystery of Melissa's pregnancy and her insistence that she has had no lovers, the author introduces peripheral characters--Melissa's landlords, her parents, and Charlene's ex-husband--and soon real danger threatens their lives. The symbols, omens, and portents the author inserts into the narrative (especially the crows) are obviously used to increase tension and to highlight private secrets, revelations, and bizarre plot twists. The dramatic changes made by some characters, especially Charlene, strain credulity, since they come suddenly and with little preamble, but they are necessary to resolve the Gothic plot. Some readers may be put off by the intrusive personal detail, some of which seems unnecessary, and by the amount of coincidence, but, overall, this is a good summer read--a suspenseful popular novel which builds to a blockbuster conclusion. Mary Whipple

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read It For the Plot Twists, October 16, 2005

By 

Dash Manchette - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Strange but True: A Novel (P.S.) (Paperback)

The description of STRANGE BUT TRUE makes it sound like a supernatural novel. Five years after a young man dies, his prom date arrives at his family's house to tell his family that she is pregnant with his child. But this is a novel of the real world and the mystery is resolved through one of those major plot twists that forces one to re-evaluate everything that came before it. This plot twist is merely the largest of the loose ends that John Searles resolves and ties together to weave an interesting story well worth the read.

In addition to the excellent job of tying all the details together, Searles also succeeds in creating the appropriate feel for this book. The dead boy's presence is felt throughout the book through the pull he exerts on the living, from his parents' separation, to his brother's unresolved feelings of failure and alienation, to the pregnant girl's inability to let go of the past. STRANGE BUT TRUE is actually quite a downer at times, though the feel is put to good use.

There are a couple of weak points. Searles' writing is a touch too technical at times. Also, the events of the book take place within only a couple of days. This detracts from the book's believability as the relationships between the characters change and develop far more quickly than is realistic. This is particularly problematic as the characters themselves are fairly strong individually thereby making the artificiality of their changing relations that much more acute.

The weak points of STRANGE BUT TRUE, however, do not come close to outweighing the strong ones. Based on this book, I look forward to reading the author's previous book. I guess that is the ultimate test and it is one that Searles passes.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Engrossing, fascinating, finest-kind of read, August 21, 2004

By 

KatPanama "katpanama" (Readerville) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strange but True (Hardcover)

I'm way, way up on a biblio high. Just finished John Searles' "Strange But True" which is part mystery, part teen-age romance turned tragic, part marriage mistakes and family politics, part rite of passage, part thriller, part tragey and wrecked people, part redemption and utterly fine reading not to mention all wonderful.

Searles' earlier novel, his first, "Boy Still Missing," is a good read but this, his second, novel is entirely engrossing and that rare combination of writing + story + plot = finest kind. This book makes a great gift for just about everyone you know except, perhaps, Lutheran ministers.

One complaint only; OK, it's not really a complaint but a reality moment: the book is a bit stern (and was meant to be), although that comes naturally with the story, the telling and the language. It's not a heavy/drowning book but it is a book that examines cause and effect with a strict minuteness that is superb. Meanwhile, thank goodness for the remarkable Donnelly Fiume and his variously scaled menagerie in East Village -- they lighten and enhance the reader's load.

Addendum: poets and poetry lovers may find a special affinity for this novel. And, anyone who is an Anne Sexton fan.