Message From a Star by Michael J Clark
You will not have heard of this book or the author, Mick J Clark. Mick is a singer-songwriter and this is his first and only published novel. Message From a Star is set in present day U.S.A. and the two leading characters are ex-high school best buddies who drifted apart some 30 years before. They reacquaint themselves, quite by chance, when their families happen to holiday at the same hotel in a Florida resort.
The main characters are Joe Randall and Chad Dablusie. Joe has a wife called Stacey and three young children Ben, Samantha and Lucy. Chad’s wife is June and they have two teenage girls Stella and Katie. Having met at the hotel the two families agree to spend time together on holiday. Joe and Chad go for a drink to reminisce over old times after the two families share an evening meal and that’s when things start to go wrong. They get caught up in a drug heist, accused of a double murder and hunted by the state police. The story follows their attempts to evade capture and prove their innocence but they meet all types along the way, some who want to help them and some who want to kill them.
During their week on the run, from the drug barons and the police, their escapades include selling drugs to survive, being rescued from the roof of a burning hotel, jumping from a police helicopter into the sea, living rough on the beach, singing for their supper and many more such episodes. There is a parallel story line for their families who are living in a police safe house. The characters are well formed by Clark and the reader certainly feels an empathy towards Joe and Chad.
There is an interesting and clever twist right at the end which I will not spoil for anyone who wishes to read the book. A twist that I did not see coming!
The book is almost 460 pages and if I have one slightly negative comment it is that I think it would have benefited from a somewhat harder edit. However, having said that, it moves at a quick pace and is packed full of incidences, even if you need to suspend your sense of reality for some. There are a number of period music references, which is not surprising given the author’s “day job” as a singer-songwriter.
I can’t help but think that maybe there is another book inside Mick J Clark and as I know him as friend I might just suggest that he puts pen to paper once more.
The book is published by Austin Macauley and available on Amazon in printed and audio formats. Mick has a website at www.MickJClark.co.uk where you can read other reviews of the book and sample his music.
The main characters are Joe Randall and Chad Dablusie. Joe has a wife called Stacey and three young children Ben, Samantha and Lucy. Chad’s wife is June and they have two teenage girls Stella and Katie. Having met at the hotel the two families agree to spend time together on holiday. Joe and Chad go for a drink to reminisce over old times after the two families share an evening meal and that’s when things start to go wrong. They get caught up in a drug heist, accused of a double murder and hunted by the state police. The story follows their attempts to evade capture and prove their innocence but they meet all types along the way, some who want to help them and some who want to kill them.
During their week on the run, from the drug barons and the police, their escapades include selling drugs to survive, being rescued from the roof of a burning hotel, jumping from a police helicopter into the sea, living rough on the beach, singing for their supper and many more such episodes. There is a parallel story line for their families who are living in a police safe house. The characters are well formed by Clark and the reader certainly feels an empathy towards Joe and Chad.
There is an interesting and clever twist right at the end which I will not spoil for anyone who wishes to read the book. A twist that I did not see coming!
The book is almost 460 pages and if I have one slightly negative comment it is that I think it would have benefited from a somewhat harder edit. However, having said that, it moves at a quick pace and is packed full of incidences, even if you need to suspend your sense of reality for some. There are a number of period music references, which is not surprising given the author’s “day job” as a singer-songwriter.
I can’t help but think that maybe there is another book inside Mick J Clark and as I know him as friend I might just suggest that he puts pen to paper once more.
The book is published by Austin Macauley and available on Amazon in printed and audio formats. Mick has a website at www.MickJClark.co.uk where you can read other reviews of the book and sample his music.
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