Raging fires across most of the east, terrifying circumstances which push the incidental humanness of nature to the edge of rationality. Hold on for this ride folks. This intelligent, sexy, adrenaline-rush thriller/character study defies genre limitations with prose bordering on some of the best literary works available to readers today.

Nick Antosca’s tale of young, college love, fear of unknown past and horrid acts of Mother Nature and human nature take you into a world that one could only hope does not exist.

Reviewed by: Cicily Janus

I have corresponded via email with Cicily for quite the long time.  She is a "new" writer (are any of us "new" writers, really? aren't we born writing?) has written a very good first novel, Dysfunction, now "under consideration" (what are they waiting for?).  You can find out more about Cicily, and her writing, through the following sites:  http://www.myspace.com/ellamargomom, http://blog.myspace.com/ellamargomom,and  http://www.ryanjanus.com

Want to get a copy of Fires, and other great books?  You can buy the book direct from the publisher, for $15.95, at http://www.impetuspress.com.

Raging fires across most of the east, terrifying circumstances which push the incidental humanness of nature to the edge of rationality. Hold on for this ride folks. This intelligent, sexy, adrenaline-rush thriller/character study defies genre limitations with prose bordering on some of the best literary works available to readers today.

Nick Antosca’s tale of young, college love, fear of unknown past and horrid acts of Mother Nature and human nature take you into a world that one could only hope does not exist.

Yet, we have all been there.

At some point, some time and some place, we have all been here, in this book, acting out the roles he so vividly portrays. The characters of this book draw you into their seemingly small, philosophical world of overly drunk, sexually charged and drug abused college lives. Jon, Ruth, James and a host of kids resemble everyone at the last party you went to in college, circulating like a brilliant arc; they are bound to eachother, through bonds yet unknown to them. But, by the end of this tale, their bonds are undeniable, corrupt and threatening each of their lives.

The man across the street, the one everyone knows and grew up loving, is not who he appears to be. Inevitably he sets off complications that leave the main characters in peril, questioning their childhood, their homes, their existence. A scenario many have had to deal with in their lives, but few will ever speak of. This leaves parents in denial, adult children in pain, suffering quietly until the dam of their emotional consciousness falters.

Mr. Antosca’s prose is fresh, characters real, too real and hypnotic at times, with descriptions playing with every thought, every movement of their lives giving way to a narrative energy rivaling a speeding bullet.

And the air is redolent with a kind of hazy, luminous misery as the sun crawls higher; and the warm, buttery sunlight  grows diluted. Frail shadows return. And we linger in the shade of the color of white wine, and in her dark brown  eyes there are still questions I don’t want to face. And so I turn my head, slightly, and go somewhere else.

I was chained to the chair, handcuffed to the manuscript for every thought provoking phrase. Thank you Mr. Antosca for sharing your thrilling talents, as I now fear the night you have stirred in my imagination, the world you have drawn outside window of my house and the characters to whom I hope never to meet, although I have the feeling I  already know them too well…This is a literary page turner to be savored.

Last update : 21-04-2007 17:20

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