TEASER TUESDAY: The Mercy of the Tide by Keith Rosson

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by

 The Purple Booker

It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read and open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! 

• Share the title & author, too, so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here are my "teasers":
Hayslip was reminded of certain guys in his platoon, as well—quiet, scared guys who would finally crack in a firefight and wind up screaming their throats raw as they emptied rounds into the dripping darkness. No thought to it, just anger and fear, all that tension finally unspooling. Maybe that tension was just youth itself, its yawning ceaselessness.

Title: The Mercy of the Tide by Keith Rosson

Publication date: 2017

Published by Meerkat Press

Synopsis:
Riptide, Oregon, 1983. A sleepy coastal town, where crime usually consists of underage drinking down at a Wolf Point bonfire. But then strange things start happening: a human skeleton is unearthed in a local park and mutilated animals begin appearing, seemingly sacrificed, on the town's beaches.

The Mercy of the Tide follows four people drawn irrevocably together by a recent tragedy as they do their best to reclaim their lives - leading them all to a discovery that will change them and their town forever.

At the heart of the story are Sam Finster, a senior in high school mourning the death of his mother, and his sister Trina, a nine-year-old deaf girl who denies her grief by dreaming of a nuclear apocalypse as Cold War tensions rise.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Dave Dobbs and Deputy Nick Hayslip must try to put their own sorrows aside to figure out who, or what, is wreaking havoc on their once-idyllic town.

- Keith Rosson paints outside the typical genre lines with his brilliant debut novel. It is a gorgeously written book that merges the sly wonder of magical realism and alternate history with the depth and characterization of literary fiction. - NPR Books | Jason Heller
- "Rosson is a talent to be watched, and Riptide is one of the most immersive fictional settings in recent memory." - Publisher's Weekly (starred review) - "A strikin

My Thoughts:
My final read of 2017 was this author’s second novel ‘Smoke City’ which I thoroughly enjoyed. So much so, that it felt fitting to commence 2018 with his debut novel.

Different, at this early stage in the book (15%), in genre definition to Smoke City which magically melded multi genre elements including the fantastical with plausible highly complex flawed characters, with a literary skill and matureness. So far it is rooted very much in reality and touches on difficult subject matters including PTSD expressed in narratives from four main tortured souls.

I must say it already looks to be another phenomenal read and show cases Rosson’s highly perceptive, diverse understanding of the human psyche, and his exemplary writing skills. A true artist in the form of words.

Absolutely going to be a great benchmark and highly recommended read for 2018.

TEASER TUESDAY: Smoke City by Keith Rosson

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by

 The Purple Booker

It is very easy to play along:

• Grab your current read and open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! 

• Share the title & author, too, so that other participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Here are my "teasers":
Three, four years old. I noticed the people parting for us, I remember that, but not the revulsion in their eyes, the contempt. I would realize later, of course, just what it was the townspeople had shied away from, had leered at: my father’s coat, and the stitched image of the sword on the back. The executioner’s mark.

Title: Smoke City by Keith Rosson

Expected publication date: January 23, 2018

Published by Meerkat Press

Synopsis:
From the author of The Mercy of the Tide comes another gorgeously written, genre-defying novel.
Marvin Deitz has some serious problems. His mob-connected landlord is strong-arming him out of his storefront. His  therapist has concerns about his stability. He's compelled to volunteer at the local Children's Hospital even though it breaks his heart every week.
Oh, and he's also the guilt-ridden reincarnation of Geoffroy Thérage, the French executioner who lit Joan of Arc's pyre in 1431. He's just seen a woman on a Los Angeles talk show claiming to be Joan, and absolution seems closer than it's ever been . . . but how will he find her?
When Marvin heads to Los Angeles to locate the woman who may or may not be Joan, he's picked up hitchhiking by Mike Vale, a self-destructive alcoholic painter traveling to his ex-wife's funeral. As they move through a California landscape populated with "smokes" (ghostly apparitions that've inexplicably begun appearing throughout the southwestern US), each seeks absolution in his own way.

My Thoughts:
I have just started to read what promises to be an entertaining and interesting book. One which appears to be intelligently well written with the maturity of an accomplished author, and I am thoroughly enjoying it thus far.

Review to follow in due course.