Title : The Voice
In My Ear
Author: Ken
Newman
Genre: Fantasy,
Fiction, Urban Legend
Series/Standalone:
Standalone
Review By:
Deepika Anandakrishnan
How I Got This
Book: Every night before going to bed I
prayed to God asking Him to magically send some books my way to keep me from
going insane. And He showered me with the two wonderful authors of this blog to
whom I owe my sanity now.
Summary:
The
story jumps through timelines back and forth to show how Zack Cole survives a
horrific near-death experience and loses and slowly regains his memory. The
secret to his survival turns out to be Layla: a 4000 year old witch who hangs
on to him. Literally! She has been transformed into a living tattoo and stuck
onto his back with all her mighty powers intact. Over time she develops a strange intimacy with
the womanizing Zack. Add to this confusion, a band of violent fanatics who are
out to hunt Zack and a hot new girlfriend who could be “The One”. We have a
boatload of problems now. Will Layla use the powers in her reserve to help
Zack? Or is she too jealous about his new girlfriend to bother about his life
now?
Review:
Newman
tries to get your attention from the word go and his narration aptly supports
his intention. It is a delight to watch Larry, the alien, hatch his plans with
such glee. Plus he has nailed the Texas accent as I was quite astonished to
actually hear it when reading the dialogue. Though this could be to my new
experience of speaking to a Texan for five hours a day, it is nevertheless
commendable.
If
you think this could be a sci-fi story, think twice. It is more like a
sub-genre of an urban legend. But if you are a sucker for those stuff (like
me), then this is your playing field.
The
living witch tattoo twist is a fairly new idea to me and the way she has been
introduced was honestly quite funny. He actually turns out to be her human guardians
in return for having “Larry the Angel Dude” save his life from a devastating
accident. Add to this Zack Cole’s constant womanizing attitude and Layla’s
temper flares. It’s quite a love(ly) game indeed. The author seems to have introduced
the pseudo worlds between Layla and Zack in order to delve deep into their
personalities and develop their relationship. All it does is increase the
passion between them and aggravate Layla’s old ‘bad’ personality traits which
actually resulted in her becoming a tattoo. That story too is quite riveting. On
top of such a high voltage drama, we have a religious group of vicious members
out to bag Zack’s head. Why? They think he is an…..Sorry…I am not letting out
that twist here!
So
many different characters are introduced but they all somehow manage to meld
together to form a supernatural thriller. Be it Marci, the villainous girl who
is out to get everything or Larry the rock-star Texan angel who hogs the screen
whenever he is on; the author manages to pace it all beautifully. And what’s up
with the farm guy they try to kill? In my head he looked quite distinguished too!
Why couldn’t he have been the hero’s secret father or something like
that!..sigh!!
What
I like: Excellent for the senses but easy on the eyes too.
What
could have been better: Probably the narrative flow could have been a bit
smoother. It tends to drag at some places.
Verdict: Save
the book for a cosy weekend. Have a cup of your hot beverage and try to find that
comfortable position before you start reading. You won’t regret it.
Rating: 4.5/5
Price : Rs.303
(Paperback)
Book Link : http://www.amazon.in/Voice-my-Ear-Ken-Newman-ebook/dp/B00MV3717Y/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1-catcorr&qid=1416370731
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