Taboo Avenged [Paperback]

Griffin T. Garnett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1998

Taboo Avenged is the intriguing psychological thriller and second novel in a series. Greg Morgan, the protagonist of Garnett's first book, The Sandscrapers, unravels a strange and forbidding murder at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. that leads him back to the island of Bora Bora and a series of unexpected discoveries and characters. A taboo, a lost memory and its return, and unusual settings make this book a compelling read. This novel is part of a quartet tracing the uncommon wartime and post-war lives of Greg Morgan, Benjamin Feldman, Ralph Farqua, and other characters who served together in the Pacific during World War II.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a fine fiction writer." -- Benjamin R. Cole, Former Scripps-Howard Correspondent and Book

"Garnett's insight into the complex landscapes of the human mind is powerfully evident in Taboo Avenged. Carefully drawn characters and a fresh approach to storytelling make this novel memorable. A finely crafted book that should not be overlooked." -- R.H. Pruett, Editor, Pleasant Living Magazine

About the Author

Griffin Garnett is a free-lance writer and practicing attorney in Arlington, Virginia. He served as commander aboard an LSM (Landing Ship Medium) in the Pacific during World War II. His articles have appeared in numerous publications. The Sandscrapers, his first novel, now in second edition, was published by Brandylane in 1995.

Product Details

• Paperback: 306 pages
• Publisher: Brandylane (May 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883911168
• ISBN-13: 978-1883911164
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,049,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Murder, Island Secrets and the Past , all Play Out in This Thriller Novel!, October 6, 2006

By 

W. H. McDonald Jr. "The American Author Assoc... (Elk Grove, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Taboo Avenged (Paperback)

"Taboo Avenged" starts almost right off with lead character Greg Morgan and his wife Caroline watching what turns out to be a murder right on stage during a dance routine by islanders from Bora Bora. An evening at the National Theater in Washington DC reunites people from Greg's past and some bad memories from the last part of his service during World War II. On stage he recognizes people whom he knows doing a "taboo" dance routine that he has seen before with terrible results. Author Griffin T. Garnett takes us along on a mystery thriller that goes from Washington DC back to Bora Bora and unravels some long hidden secrets and events. His friend's wife, the dancer who collapsed on stage, dies that very night from poison. Now Greg is wanting to discover why and more importantly who did it.

This is the second installment using the same basic cast of characters from the author's successful first novel "The Sandscrapers" which was about a crew of men on the LSM ships that were used in WWII. Garnett retains the same people and moves the time line forward into civilian times and much later on after the war has ended. In this psychological thriller, we find ourselves as readers, being pulled along deeper in the mysteries of the past and the present. The pace of the book is good. The author, once again, uses a light narrative with occasional dialogs to bridge the action. The story is compelling and it will hold your attention all the way through to the ending.

Griffin Garnett is establishing himself as a creative and talented novelist; this book just adds to his already growing reputation. The book is entertaining and worthy of buying and reading!

1.0 out of 5 stars Bad Beyond Imagination, August 16, 2011

By 

Jeffrey A. Bohn "mrotherman" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Taboo Avenged (Paperback)

I read about 100 books a year---non-fiction, "good" literature, crime, sci-fi. I'm also an advanced placement composition teacher. I have never been moved to write an amazon review before "Taboo Awful", but, boy, I just have to go on an ugly rant here.

To call "Taboo Awful" bad just doesn't express the mindless,relentless, soul-destroying incompetence of this effort. I wouldn't wish this one on Hitler, Stalin or even Satan himself. No one---NO ONE---should be subjected to this mess. From conception to execution, it's almost inconceivably without merit.

The story: During WW II, an unconvincing rich bad boy Navy officer on Bora Bora is taking total control of the natives. A new Navy man is assigned and he must be gotten rid of. So "something" is done to him by a big, strong (but beautiful) native woman who's in charge of tearing down a MASH unit on the island. This happens in a jeep and it tramatizes his gonads (in a way that is never explained) and psyche,so that he totally loses his memory (I wish I could forget reading this book! Well, time passes, and in 1954 he, the woman, the woman's husband, a friend of the officer, the officer bad-guy (who is now exporting heroin and opium (opium?) in (I'm not making this up!) heads carved from coconuts!) meet ("as if by fate...") in DC's National Theatre where the native woman now is lead dancer in a Polyneasian dance troupe (it could happen!). One of the dances reproduces the aforementioned jeep/gonad episode (why?) and Mr. Gonad is shocked into remembering. But it all turns out well in the end (thank god for slamming doors!).

Get it? Well, it doesn't matter. The whole gonad injury/war wound thing worked well for Hemingway in "The Sun Also Rises," but to paraphrase Lloyd Benson, Griffith Garnett is no Hemingway. But we never see the trauma incident, so the whole thing's unconvincing. Kind of like making the film "Jaws" without a shark.

Calling the dialog "wooden" would also be a reach. NOBODY talks like this outside of a group home for the developmentally-delayed. We shouldn't use the "R-word" anymore, but boy, if ever... No living human being has ever addressed his/her significant other as "Beloved" 8 times in a 3-page span. But welcome to world of Mr. Griffin!

Gotta finish: Griffith: No Corvettes in the pre-war era. No Gatorade in 1954. Give your audience credit---If someone can read the book, you don't have to drive the god damn simplistic "clues" home with a sledge hammer over and over and over. Don't break the narrative continuity for a 5-6 page diversion to background material (to that point "hidden" from the reader) necessary to "figure out" the mystery.

I could go on. I bought this at a library used book sale. Why? I like mysteries and anthropology. The book opens in the National Theatre, a venue I'm familiar with as I live in the DC area. So, I thought, maybe this will be good.

Wrong.

As mentioned, I read a lot and respect writers and their efforts. I did something with this book that I almost never do. Instead of going to the "return to library used book sale" box, I threw this book away. It was an act of humane compassion. I don't understand how someone could write this vaucous tripe and think it's good. That an editor read it and decided to invest money in publishing it challenges all I have constructed about "reality" in my 57 years.

Really, if I had a choice of re-reading this book or placing my hand on the table and hitting it with a hammer continuously for 5 hours, I think I'd take the hammer.

Dear reader: NO! NO! NO! Run---RUN---to the nearest exit. Avoid it like the plague. "Taboo Avenged" needs to be a "Taboo Avoided."