Stand in Hell

Stand In Hell, a brilliant look at one man's search for a resolution to his troubled family life contains all the elements of a great thriller/roadtrip movie.The main hero, Robin Wallenco, quits his job and leaves his hometown on Vancouver Island to search for the source of his father's misery and to find the answers to his grandfather's troubling past. On the way, he meets up with Norma, a girl twenty years his junior and he learns about his own emotions through her while they drive together. Brilliantly drawn, Bolen's characters sparkle with the luminosity of the doomed. The relationship that grows between Norma and Robin is well-portrayed and the denounement of the book is realistic and emotionally sincere. The writing does not manipulate emotion but instead resounds with power, with prose that makes this author a force to be reckoned with. Dennis E. Bolen deserves recognition and kudos for as fine a book as this.