Red Leaves

Thomas H. Cook in unquestionably my favorite writer and Red Leaves may be my favorite of his books. He is the undeniable master of character development, forcing the reader to draw from his own bank of life's characters. Reading his books is more than reading a novel, it is taking an adventure. It takes a little while to shake off the reality woven into the pages. Very well done.

Reading a Thomas Cook novel is like taking a journey into darkness...But if your willing to take the trip, you will find that you have learned something about yourself along the way. Again, Thomas Cook takes the mystery novel to a whole new level. He is the best at what he does.

In the tradition of Harlan Coben and Nelson DeMille, Thomas H.Cook presents readers with not only mysteries and suspense books but taught psychological dramas. Among the books I've read by him which I really enjoyed are the titles, The Chatham School Murder, Places in the Dark and perhaps my favorite, Breakheart Hill. And his newest book Red Leaves is a welcome addition to a writer who provokes gradual increases of fear which finds readers holding their breaths and gulping down the pages. Red Leaves begins on an ordinary day in an ordinary home in a suburb which could be found across America. But in less than 48 hours this will be no ordinary home with ordinary people, And once again we as readers find ourselves wondering how well do we really know people, even those closest to us. On the surface life seems good for Eric Moore and his family. He is happy with his photo and framing shop and his wife has a good teaching job at the local community college. They live in a closely knit community where they have friends and good neighbors. And if their 15 year old son seems a bit odd, isn't that just teenage angst, Eric thinks? But undeneath it all Eric's life so good or so simple as wrestles with thoughts about his other family as he calls them. His mother who died in a car crash, a young sister who died, his ne'er do well and iullusionary father now in a nursing home and his brother, an alcoholic and solitary man. And then one night Eric's son goes to baby-sit for aneighbors 8 year old daughter and life for the Moores nothing will never be the same again. This book which begins slowly gains steam as the events and Eric's thoughts and findings begin a downward spiral for which there is only doom for his family. And if the ending was melodramatic and almost anti-climactic, it did seem like the only plausible and possible ending. The characters were well defined and I as the reader felt compassion for all of them but most of all Eric who began to realize that things were never the way they seemed. I have long found Thomas H. Cook to be a wonderful writer of this genre. And my recent reading of Red Leaves only served to confirm my previous thoughts as well. Allonge with presenting us with believable characters living ordinary lives that are about to change dramatically, Cook has the knack of making his readers feel as if they are part of the scenery. As always when I finish one of his books, I look forward to reading his newest one or an older title I haven't read yet. Keep writing them Mr. Cook and this is one reader who will continue to gulp down your titles.

"Family photos always lie," is the first line of "Red Leaves," Thomas Cook's stunning new novel about a family under pressure. The eloquent narrator, Eric Moore, owns a camera and photo shop and photography is a motif that permeates the novel. Snapshots capture people at particular moments in their lives, but it is impossible to look at pictures and really know what lies behind the posed smiles. "Red Leaves" is the story not just of Eric Moore, but of his dead mother and bitter father, his shiftless brother, Warren, his wife, Meredith, and his son, Keith. By the end of the novel, Eric has ample reason to reevaluate everything that he has assumed about each one of these individuals. He achieves "the high wisdom that only the fallen know" the hard way, through bitter experience. Eric, Meredith, and fifteen-year-old Keith live in a beautiful home in a small town, and life is good. Meredith has a job she adores, teaching English and handling administrative duties in a local junior college. One Friday evening, Keith is asked to baby-sit for eight-year-old Amy Giordano. He agrees and everyone's lives change. The next morning, Amy is not in her bed, and her parents are crazy with worry. Who abducted their little girl? Is she still alive? Since Keith was apparently the last person to see her, suspicion naturally falls on him. The police are particularly interested in the fact that Keith is a reserved and awkward boy with few friends and low self-esteem. Throughout the book, Cook maintains a high level of suspense, using foreshadowing and opening each section of the book with cryptic comments by the narrator made after the events of this novel have already taken place. Therefore, "Red Leaves" is in the nature of a jigsaw puzzle, whose pieces can be put together only after the last page is turned. The story derives its power from Cook's marvelously descriptive writing and his careful delineation of character. The book's themes are universal: no one is exactly as he or she appears on the surface, suspicion can be corrosive, and happiness is a fragile state that too often dissipates without warning. Cook also demonstrates that, for better or worse, each of us is a product of our particular family history. Although Eric's life seems stable, an unpredictable combination of circumstances turns everything he values to ashes. "Red Leaves" suffers from a melodramatic ending that I wish had been a bit more restrained, but it is still a compelling and unforgettable work about a family's tragic disintegration.