Book Review - The Best of Crimes
The Best of Crimes by K.C. Maher is an unexpected Love Story! This debut novel by long-time writer K.C. Maher forces the reader to consider that there are many kinds of love. Platonic love, romantic love, love for your children, etc. As well, this story encourages the reader to consider that although temptation may be strong, moral can outweigh inappropriate behavior!
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Summary:
Provided by Red Door Publishing Company
The story opens with the narrator, Walter, turning himself in for kidnappingat the police station of his New York City suburb. The chief tells him to gohome – no one wants to prosecute. But Walter insists, until he is arrested andcharged. Why would Walter, a pillar of the community, voluntarily confess to afelony that carries a minimum sentence of five years?
This riddle takes readers back to 1999, to Walter’s first day as aninvestment banker on Wall Street. He’s an 18-year-old math prodigy, eager toembrace life after an adolescence consumed by earning advanced degrees. Hewastes no time getting married and soon has a daughter. But after livingthrough the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in which he loses his best friend,Walter becomes disillusioned by Wall Street’s bottomless greed. He finds solacein his daughter Olivia and her best friend Amanda, who lives acrossthe street and has essentially been abandoned by her absentee mother.
As the years pass and Walter’s marriage slowly crumbles, his wife leaves him and takes his beloved daughter with her. Walter is left confused and heartbroken. His only neighbor in the secluded suburban enclave is Amanda, who has grown into a stunning teenager brimming with humor and curiosity. Amanda is as lonely and love-starved as was Walter at her age, and to some extent, still is.
Walter and Amanda grow closer, even as, to his horror, he finds he must suppress a fascination with her budding beauty. Over the course of a school year, the push and pull of their relationship transforms them: as Walter discovers his best self, and Amanda blossoms into adolescence.
“Walter and Amanda’s relationship definitely challenges the limit of what is appropriate, but thanks to Walter’s moral decency, it never becomes physical,” says Maher. “Fundamentally, The Best of Crimes is an uplifting story of a pure, loving relationship between two lonely people briefly thrown together by fate.”
Lively, fast-paced and thought-provoking, The Best of Crimes is a beautifully written novel that shows how selfless love can be.
Review:
This story captured me from the 1st Chapter. I was fascinated by the dynamic between Walter and his wife Sterling. And, I found it interesting, if not too common how Sterling's love for money, more than for her husband, forced the inevitable distance between these spouses. The relationship that begins to build with Amanda seems unreal. However, considering how Walter's adolescence was spent, I could begin to understand his need to find love with her.
The author provides enough of Walter's background (his youth) to understand what makes him the man he becomes. Ultimately, he can't live up to his wife's high expectations. He needs to FEEL loved and to be able to love deeply. He finds this opportunity with young Amanda.
Walter proves his integrity at the end of the story when he sacrifices his own freedom in order for Amanda to have a chance at a normal life after high school. Also, the love that Walter and Amanda share seems so pure that it's hard not to wonder, what if? After Amanda gets through college and has some life experience, could the two of them have a romantic relationship?
I found this story easy to read. It flowed well. And the details provided in the story made it easy to feel as if you were a neighbor living on the same street as Walter.
The Publisher is offering a Giveaway of this novel. Please leave a comment below and I will choose a lucky winner to receive this wonderful story.
Until my next review...
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