KAYE TROUT'S BOOK REVIEWS 1

I specialize in reviewing Print-On-Demand (POD) published books for my website and Midwest Book Review. Please query for a review by email to hgunther234@hotmail.com.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

PROMISES ON A RING OF STONE by J. R. Campbell

iUniverse
2021 Pine Lake Rd, Lincoln, NE
www.iuniverse.com
Genre: Fiction/Thriller
Rating: Very Good
ISBN: 0595392024, $14.95, 190 pp.


David Llewellyn, an American writer vacationing on the Caribbean island of Grand Kirkmuir, quickly finds himself embroiled in bitter island politics, a new love interest and an ancient Celtic pagan rite for eternal youth–making for an informative, interesting read.

J. R. Campbell is a consummate writer who tells his tale with an appealing style and adroitness. His talent for description adds considerably to the pleasure of this read. As there are many books out there these days, style and skill are paramount to compete for a reader’s attention. His novel–well-written and well-edited–pulls you in and carries you along smoothly to the end, and I highly recommend it.

Allow me to share with you an excerpt from pages 1-2:
"The wind rose up as he stepped across the age-worn threshold, slamming the door shut loudly behind him. The sound echoed strangely through the vast emptiness of the kitchen, causing him to take note of his surroundings. The housekeeper had been given the night off, leaving him alone in the old house. This was the oldest part of Buxton Hall, having survived more or less unchanged for the last one hundred and thirty years. From the hardwood cupboards on the white plaster walls, to the long oak table at which he’d been served breakfast every morning for the last few weeks, most of the kitchen’s furnishings were held over from that time. All of a sudden he stopped his slow passage through the room, struck by a curious appreciation of that fact for perhaps the first time. He stood still in the darkness, listening to the silence, sensing behind the veil of nighttime’s shadows the presence of lives long past. As he dwelled in the detached solitude of those moments, he had no doubt at all that Hannah once had stood where he was standing now."

The back cover tells us that J. R. Campbell is a student of comparative religion and mythology, grew up in England and drew upon his ancestral Caribbean folklore for inspiration.

Reviewed by Kaye Trout - October 10, 2006

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