Friday, August 13, 2010

Book Review: DRIFT


Title: DRIFT
Author: Sharon Carter Rogers
Publisher: Howard Books
Release Date: April 2010
ISBN-10: 1416566538
ISBN-13: 978-1416566533
Price: $13.99
Pages: 337
Format : Trade Paperback


Drift is a unique novel. One I could not put down. This was partly due to the tale told, and partly due to the way the tale unfolded. Sharon Carter Rogers has a crisp writing style. Taut chapters, crisp dialogue, and developed characters kept me page turning, anxious to see what would happen next.


To write this review a reader needs to understand what makes up a Drifter. A Drifter is neither an angel, nor a demon, but someone who is always here. Divinely possible, and perfectly flawed, Boy is attached to a tether for a time. Some times last longer than others. Some are short—lasting days. And what is a tether? A person. One who can see and hear and touch the drifter, while others cannot do any of these things.


A Drifter, once out of sight is soon forgotten, both by the tether, and also to the Drifter. If prematurely separated, the Drifter’s existence crumbles. It slowly, and painfully kills the Drifter without the relief of death.


Again. Unique.


In Drift, Baby Doll was adopted, or stolen really, as a child. Her deceased father—Charlie Murphy—held a high position in a mob-like organized crime syndicate. His title—The Executioner—carried with it all the power the name suggests. His suspicious death leads Baby Doll to Boy—the Drifter. Or maybe it is the other way around.


Bonded by an invisible link, the two are tethered to one another. And like any relationship, relies heavily on give and take. Boy needs a favor from Baby Doll. A simple task. He’d left something important at the home of his last tether. Unfortunately, he can’t remember where it was his last tether lived, and more importantly, he isn’t sure he can trust Baby Doll to help him.


Baby Doll needs tether’s help for a more primal cause. To stay alive. With Murphy’s death comes the threat of anarchy within the syndicate—a tipping of balance that Baby Doll set into motion. In order to ensure the demise of the syndicate Baby Doll needs what was stolen from her, or else order risks being restored and her involvement behind the scenes of the turmoil could cost her the very life she’s been trying to save. Her own.


With the syndicate growing more suspicious about her involvement, and the police certain she knows more than she’s told, Baby Doll is torn by questions that spin like a whirlwind inside her head: What to do next? Where to go next? And why in the world has she been tethered to Boy?

The tension in Drift builds and builds, chapter by chapter, page by page and word by word. With unexpected twists, crazy turns, and nail-biting action—Rogers’ book will thrill readers. Touch them. And force them to remember the story for a long time.


--Thomas Phillips, author of The Molech Prophecy