Ed Morawski

When a story begins with a page marked "Warning" and "Secret", followed by the first chapter titled "It Begins", you suspect you're in for quite a ride. View fully delivers on that promise. A young amnesiac woman is found alone in the desert, and Air Force Sergeant Max Leszek makes a life-altering mistake. What's the connection? And where will it take all the people involved? Seemingly disparate pieces combine to create a compelling paranormal thriller that also contains elements of intrigue, mystery, and romance.

The characters are strong, both the main characters and the supporting ones. The story is told in first person, mostly from Max's perspective, but a few chapters tell events from the perspectives of the other characters. Those chapters were well placed, with smooth transitions from Max's tale, and really enhanced the story. The characters in those chapters have their own distinct voices - some great, skillful writing! And the story's ending... wow! I didn't see that coming.

From brief histories of locations Max visits to technical fine points about a military plane, many such details are incorporated into the story, adding depth and reality to the tale. They were skillfully included and deftly avoided a common problem of turning into "info dumps".

While the story contains some violence and the aftermath of violence, and instances of rape, abuse/torture, and addiction, these elements were important to the plot and weren't gratuitous or dwelt on overlong.

A few typos that popped up throughout the book had me rereading some sentences. They were somewhat annoying but their impact on the strength of the story was minor.

Overall, this is an engaging story that grabs the reader right from the beginning and takes them along on a fantastic ride. A wonderful read with plenty of twists and turns, it entertains as well as provides some thought-provoking pieces that linger well after the end of the book.

(Read November 2022)… (més)

This unique romance / mystery / thriller, told in first person, had me hooked right from the beginning. And it didn’t hurt that the author quoted the lyrics to “Starry, Starry Night”, a favorite song of mine. The blurb perfectly describes the story premise, so I won’t try to paraphrase here, but will say that it’s all that and more.

Elements I liked:
The author has a talent for making the extraordinary seem not only plausible but probable. The plot is creative and intriguing and has so many pieces to it that it kept me reading wondering how, and if, it all connected.

I loved how Mike, the main character, worked through the mysteries surrounding Chloe, intelligently considering many possible scenarios and explanations, and exploring the plausibility of each. And he even questioned himself and his assumptions during the process, something that helped make the character so real.

There’s so much in the story… considerations of mental health, security, morality, religion, and more. It includes facts that enhance the story: details such as statistics around suicides, the story of relevant scientific advances, and cultural/societal happenings, even right down to a recent news story. Full of twists, turns, and surprises, this mystery presents multiple plausible answers as it develops, keeping the reader wondering at the truth behind the situation and reading to find out.

Elements I struggled with:
I found the abrupt tense changes and some typos distracting, making for some rough reading, especially early in the book. But the story was so compelling that these issues did not impact my enjoyment.

Overall:
At one point in the story, it says, “It was an absolutely incredible and unbelievable situation.” That’s this book: an absolutely incredible and unbelievable tale that’s yet very believable and well worth reading!

(Read August 2022)… (més)

This imaginative story with its mix of science and philosophy is a diverting read. The tale is told in first person from the viewpoint of a man who identifies himself only as the Documenter. He tells of his friendship from youth to adulthood with “probably the smartest human being that ever lived” and their alternate-reality discoveries and adventures.

Elements I liked:
I liked the conversational tone of the writing. It served well to highlight the strangeness the characters encountered and helped make the book a fast, easy read. There are some intriguing twists and turns and mysteries surrounding the events in the story.

Elements I struggled with:
Explicit sex scenes.
Unresolved events.
Blasé attitudes toward the drugs.

The explicit sex scenes in the first ~15% of the book were jarring and intrusive and did not fit the enjoyable conversational tone. The little they added to the story could have been easily expressed without the graphic descriptions. And they took the book too far into erotica territory – something that was not at all indicated in the blurb or genre labels.

A number of events that concerned and even alarmed the characters were introduced and then just dropped shortly afterward – left unresolved and unexplained, which contributed to making the ending unsatisfying.

The characters’ blasé attitudes toward the drugs, and the fact that no one really had any bad side effects from them, did not seem realistic. It stretched my suspension of disbelief just a little too far and interfered with my enjoyment of the story.

Overall:
There’s a lot happening in this story to keep a reader involved. An intriguing premise with some interesting twists combined with an easy tone makes the book a nice, light read. I found it an untaxing entertainment that unfortunately was, at the end, a not completely satisfying read.

(Read August 2021)… (més)