Straight Reading from the Library: Schism by Gregory Eaves

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READ THE BLURB

SCHISM is an atmospheric journey back in time to the year 1970, when drugs and anti-war protests dominated the headlines. This psychological suspense mystery follows the life of a middle-aged college professor, Jackson Boone, as he tries to unravel the truth about his girlfriend. He is in danger of losing his job, and perhaps his life, when he takes on a violent radical group in the process. Haunted by a past mistake, Boone tries to do the right thing in a world of increasingly ambiguous moral shadings.

READ THE REVIEW

Jackson Boone is a middle-aged college professor who is on the fringe of life--he supports the look (he lets his hair grow long), but does not espouse either the hippy or the radical philosophy of life. He's having a secret affair with a graduate student and has been accused (and rightfully so) of plagiarism. However, once Susan is found dead, things take a drastic turn.

Mr. Eaves has caught the spirit of the age perfectly--during a time when unrest on college campuses were rampant, people (like Boone) who had been content to drift along, are suddenly forced to take sides and are faced with decisions they had never thought to make. Boone is determined to find out the truth about Susan--but what he discovers sends him down an ever deepening spiral of choices and he soon finds himself in more trouble than he ever expected.

This is not an easy character to like--but at the same time, Mr. Eaves has created a very compelling character--one who is not easily forgotten. This is a dark book about how one bad choice can lead to others with deadly results and about a time when things weren't as black and white as they once were--there are many shades of gray, and Boone gets caught up in all the ambiguities of the time.

Good job, Mr. Eaves. 4 stars.

READ AN EXCERPT

Next Canto addressed the small, but well-lit kitchen. The refrigerator created a deep hum that might have been soothing in a larger space, but was irritating here. The lieutenant shook his head when he heard it. They opened all the cabinet doors and peeked inside the refrigerator. No dice. Miller was losing patience. He flipped on an old Magnavox table radio out of boredom.

“That figures. It’s dead.”

“Forget it, Miller. Help me move the fridge so I can see behind it.”

Miller checked the plug, and then he lifted the radio up to move it. “Something’s not right here, sir.”

“Let me see it,” Canto demanded. He picked up the radio. A heavy object was definitely loose inside which wasn’t original equipment. Miller produced a screwdriver from a kitchen drawer, and they removed the back panel.

“What in God’s name is this doing in here?” Canto asked. He pulled out a soldering iron, coils of wire, and a blasting cap from the empty shell of the radio. “It looks like there may have been more to Miss Riley’s life than just college classes and coke dates.”

MEET THE AUTHOR

Gregory Eaves was born October 18, 1950, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He attended Speedway High School and Indiana University. In his twenties, he traveled extensively throughout the United States, with an eight year stay in San Diego, California, where he studied and practiced meditation.

Gregory moved to Florida and completed a master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of South Florida.

Library school rekindled his interest in reading, which had been his favorite activity as a child growing up. Mysteries had been his first love, and he devoured his first mystery books with singular passion and zeal. Nothing else seemed to hit the sweet spot like reading The Hardy Boys, Sherlock Holmes, and Poirot. He later enjoyed authors like Raymond Chandler, John D. McDonald, Graham Greene, Patricia Highsmith, and others.

SCHISM is Gregory’s first novel. His prior experience with writing included poetry and short stories. One of his short-shorts won runner-up in a contest in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

He now lives on the east coast of Florida, and when he isn’t writing, he enjoys playing guitar and collecting vintage stereo gear and vinyl records. He is a member of American Mensa.

Links:

http://www.gregoryeaves.com/index.html
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Gregory%20Eaves&search-alias=digital-text&sort=relevancerank

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