Review of The Green House by Dan Lawton

The Green House
by 

Dan Lawton (Goodreads Author)

Robert Ullrich's review

Feb 04, 2020  ·  edit

it was amazing

bookshelves: 2020-challenge

The Green House is a moving story of love, life, death and the struggle of one man to forgive himself. The narrative is excellent, evoking emotional responses and literally painting in the readers mind. It did for me. It is a story I can relate to on a deeply personal level. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend The Green House to almost anyone.

Link to Green House on Amazon: The Green House

Finding a Reason to Live

This is something I have struggled with sharing since January 6, 1992. That was the night that changed me forever; the night I SHOULD have died and didn't, at least not physically. Some call it an attempted suicide. I don't. I call it surviving suicide. It was no cry for help. It wasn't born in depression. I wasn't afraid of death. I had every intention of dying, and the means to accomplish my goal.

I've heard people say time and again, "Suicide is the coward's way out," or "Suicide is the most selfish action anyone can take." Of course. they probably don't know the taste of gun oil on the barrel of a Taurus 9 MM. I doubt they've ever pulled the trigger. I am positive they never heard the hammer hit the firing pin. I have. That's the story I've never told - nor the story of the abuse by a priest that I carry the blame for and shame of to this very day. Recent events in Pennsylvania brought it back again in all it's sordid glory.

I am done being a victim. I am done protecting the reputation of a dead man who stole my faith from me. A man I had to look in the eyes at my father's funeral. I wanted to kill him then and there. Even though I've never told him, my brother Steve stopped me. I know he doesn't know it; at least I believe he doesn't. Maybe he knew more than I thought, or maybe it was just pure instinct to protect his brother. Either way, I will thank him.

This book will come fast and furious when I finally begin. I won't be able to stop or I'll never have the courage to do it again.

Robert.

Book Review: From Dusk to Dawn: A Collection of Short Stories by Joe Chilson

          https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q5D3ZVJ/ 

From Dusk to Dawn: A Collection of Short Stories by Joe Chilson (Goodreads Author)

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19008907.Joe_Chilson

Robert Ullrich's review, July 31, 2020  · 

Interesting and Captivating

        I've been a fan of short stories and anthologies for many a year -  too many some days. Joe Chilson has assembled a personal anthology of his own short stories.

        From the opening story you may, actually, you should notice you are a very much a part of the stories. Chilson weaves portions of some around you, drawing you in. In some, as in the opening piece, you soon realize it is up to you to fill in the blanks with your own interpretations and imagination. Others seem to be complete, but are they?
        I enjoyed m every story, some more than others, of course.  Particularly those leaving me wondering what would become of a character or storyline.
    Purchase "From Dusk to Dawn" with the assurance you will be entertained and challenged at the same time.