Title: The Liar's Diary
Author: Patry Francis
Publisher: Dutton
Publisher's Address: 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
ISBN-10: 0525949909
ISBN-13: 978-0525949909
Price: $16.47
Publisher phone number and/or website address: http://www.penguin.com/
Author's website: http://www.patryfrancis.com/index2.htm
Author's blog: http://simplywait.blogspot.com/
The Liar's Diary
by Patry Francis
Review by Aaron Paul Lazar
The Liar's Diary, a psychological suspense novel by debut author Patry Francis, should be tooled in fragrant red leather with gilt edges, and placed on your bookshelf in a place of honor.
Be forewarned. When you buy it, allow for an uninterrupted block of time. Forget sleep. The lure of The Liar's Diary is strong, for it will call your name incessantly, and your dreams will be filled with Ms. Francis's characters long after you've reached the end of this riveting new work.
Full of subtle, twisting truths that bob and weave in a surf of lies, The Liar's Diary is like a fragile raft on a swelling sea of denial. Carefully selected truths are masterfully revealed as we are thrust into the life of high school secretary Jeanne Cross. The raft soars higher - just enough to almost peer over the whitecaps. Jeanne glimpses half-truths so disturbing she retreats into the safety of her compulsively ordered life. Disoriented and in psychological turmoil, we twist and weave in yet another direction beside her, constantly on edge and guessing until the final page.
Jeanne strives to be the dutiful wife, mother, housekeeper, nurturer, and employee. But we quickly learn her perfect life is built on a severely cracked foundation. Gavin Cross, the debonair doctor husband, is a controlling father who bullies his son, feeding an explosive eating disorder that sends Jamie Cross to chocolate for relief. Scenarios of mockery escalate, with full blame for Jamie's lack of academic success laid squarely at Jeanne's feet. In her picture perfect house, we soon discover a supremely unhappy woman who lives in suburban hell, trying to defend her beloved son and keep peace in the dysfunctional family.
Enter Ali Mather, the new music teacher at Jeanne's school who flounces into Jeanne's staid world of responsibility with flowing strawberry blond hair, fragrant perfumes, and tight jeans, enticing the high school boys and male teachers, and providing hours of juicy gossip for the rest of the staff. Ali, flamboyant, passionate, and unabashedly sexy, is the antithesis of sedate, controlled Jeanne. Yet, through a circumstance not fully understood, Jeanne is drawn to Ali like a powerful narcotic.
Ali, married to George Mather, a most perfect husband, has issues of her own. Unresolved childhood traumas send her into the arms of two men in Jeanne's town, shocking the quiet community. George, strangely forgiving and still madly in love with his philandering wife, cuts a figure of loving forgiveness. As Ali embraces her hedonistic experiences, including an affair with the school shop teacher half her age, Jeanne reacts with simultaneous repulsion and fascination.
But someone is stalking Ali, entering her home and leaving subtle reminders of their presence. Is it one of her lovers? A student? A jealous wife? Her music is desecrated, personal items disappear, but the police don't take her seriously. Jeanne struggles to help her friend overcome her fears and abandoned relationships, just when Ali's diary disappears and people start to die.
The story twists into another realm, shocking the reader multiple times, surging higher now with dark half-truths. Jeanne's son is accused of ungodly crimes, and it's up to her to uncover the facts. She must discover who's lying, in order to save her son.
Patry Francis is a gifted deep thinker who knows people and paints them well.
Her writing style is engaging and smooth going down - like a big bowl of lime sherbet. First time novelists often try too hard, peppering their prose with ostentatious adverbs and adjectives. But Ms. Francis's writing focuses on the compelling story as the movie plays in your head with a clever appreciation of the craft.
I highly recommend The Liar's Diary to anyone who enjoys a good suspense, mystery, or psychological thriller.
Aaron Paul Lazar
www.legardemysteries.com
www.mooremysteries.com
www.aaronlazar.blogspot.com
I’ve known for a while that websites are more successful when they’re interactive, or the content is constantly changing, and when there’s always something fresh and entertaining to keep readers checking in. Sadly, I haven’t had the time lately to see to that (and frankly haven’t been inspired to add to a site that I’ll be moving soon), but now, up pops this opportunity to do something interesting for a week or so. I’m honored for a few days to be a hostess for Aaron Paul Lazar’s blog tour for his newly released novel, TREMOLO: Cry of the Loon. Welcome to my site, and thanks for coming.It’s probably been a couple years since I wrote a review of Tremolo. It was a writing project on an editor’s blog. At the time, I had just completed reading the first draft, and I think the review captures the exuberance I felt about the story and characters, so I’m going to stick with it:This book is so cool I could eat it like ice cream. I felt like rolling down a hill in a big refrigerator box when I read it, and you will too, because Tremolo by Aaron Paul Lazar, is a nostalgic and adventurous romp through summer camp. After Gus crashes a boat into Big Blue, he and his blood “brothers,” Sigfried and Elsbeth, help search for a missing girl – a young girl they saw being chased by an enraged drunk the night before. Between swimming holes and horseback riding, slide shows and carnivals, Gus comes to grips with his crush on Betsy, a pretty waitress at the camp, and the jealousy he feels for the older William, who is determined to make her his own; as well as the new brother or sister Gus will soon have. There’s a mysterious guest in Cabin Fifteen, and some sinister-looking men in dark sunglasses lurking around. Chills, thrills, spills and danger lurk around every corner of this sylvan lake setting. Gus, Sigfried and Elsbeth manage to get into one dire predicament after another as they follow clues in their own search for the missing girl, as well as the mysterious guest’s missing cat, and Gus finds out what it’s like to be in mortal peril more than once. The denouement had me literally holding my breath. Tremolo makes me want to run down to the dock and splash in, clothes and all. Last one in is a rotten egg!Title: Tremolo: Cry of the LoonAuthor: Aaron Paul LazarPublisher: Twilight Times BooksPublisher's Address: P.O. Box 3340, Kingsport, TN 37664Publisher website address: www.twilighttimesbooks.com/ISBN: 13:978-1-933353-08-1 and 10:1-933353-08-2Price: $18.95Author’s website: http://legardemysteries.com/ and http://www.mooremysteries.com/Author’s blog: http://aaronlazar.blogspot.com/INTERVIEW WITH AARON PAUL LAZARI want to begin by saying that I was honored to be named on Tremolo’s acknowledgements page, and also to have been one of the first to read the story. I know it’s based on a summer camp you visited often as a child, so tell us a bit about that.And let me begin by saying, Val, that you are a superb editor whose insights and skills helped improve the book immensely. Now, to answer your question. Camp was a magical place for me. My father’s parents ran it, and from my earliest years until age nine I spent summers there with my parents. Dad helped in the kitchen with my grandfather and we all pitched in. It was very rustic, but nobody minded. With the clear water and sandy bottomed lake, we felt as if we were in paradise. I always remember the sensation of being there, of running down the path toward the water, when times get tough. It really helps. You’re a busy man! You have three daughters, two grandchildren, and your beautiful wife, Dale (seen on the cover of Upstaged ), often needs your assistance to get through daily life. You have extensive flower and vegetable gardens, do all or most of the cooking at your house, are an accomplished pianist, talented photographer, give lots of book signings, and have a full time job. It makes me tired just thinking about it! Yet, you’ve managed to write how many novels?I’ve just finished my twelfth book, entitled For Keeps. It’s the third book in the Sam Moore paranormal mysteries series. It really isn’t too hard to crank out the books, even when you work full time. I just need an hour or two a day (usually either early morning or late night) to let myself travel to my parallel universe. It’s wonderful therapy. And it fulfills my insatiable need to create. In what genre do you classify your novels? Mystery? Suspense? Something else?I think of my books as pure mysteries. Some of them border on suspense. Others perhaps literary. But mystery really covers it all. How old were you when you began writing, or would you rather say how many years you’ve been after it? Where are those roots; I mean, what inspired you to write your first novel, and which is it?My father died in 1997 when I was 44. It crushed me. I always knew I wanted to write a mystery series, but figured it was going to happen when I retired, when the kids were all settled in their lives and I had plenty of time on my hands. But when he died, I needed to release the pain somehow. Writing was the answer. It took me a few years to get established in the genre – the final version of Double Forte’ was completed in rough form in 2001. After that, the books just tumbled out every few months. Some of your characters are based on real people. Do they know, and how do they feel about it? Does this question bother you, because I have to say that when I’m asked this question, I feel that by verifying it, I’m thought less of as a writer, as if I couldn’t pull a good story or characters out of my imagination, or that I’m too nostalgic, or need to let go of the past. Do you have such insecurities?Most of the inspiration for characters are motivated by loved ones I’ve lost. Gus is based a lot on my dad, Maddy on his mother, and Sid on his father. Although Johnny is just like my little grandson Julian, he was created before Julian was born. But now there are many similarities, and I use some of Julian’s antics in the stories. Gordie, my other grandson, is the model for Timmy, Sam Moore’s grandson. And of course, Elsbeth, Camille, and Rachel are loosely based on my wife, Dale. She doesn’t seem to mind, since they are the women with whom Gus and Sam fell in love. ;o)Of all the Gus LeGarde stories, this is the only one that delves into his childhood. What inspired you to go there?I couldn’t wait to revisit my childhood in Maine and always wanted to write the quintessential “joyful shout of childhood” book – and this was it! I needed to get out all those memories and scenes that invaded my heart and brain, and it just seemed natural to plunk Gus, Elsbeth, and Camille in that setting. I also wrote another “prequel” to Double Forte’, entitled Portamento. That takes place in Boston in the sixties, when Gus and Elsbeth are attending the New England Conservatory of Music. It’s my “hippie” book. You’ve also begun a new series of paranormal stories featuring a character named Sam Moore. Is he based on a real person as some of the LeGarde characters are, or is he purely fictitious? What inspired a paranormal series? Have you experienced paranormal events in your own life? Sam is the guy I wanna be when I retire. I’m jealous of him, and although I’m not wishing my life away, I can’t wait to reach his stage of life. His gardening passions are mine, but we did vary in careers. Sam was a family doctor and I’m an engineer by day. Rachel is loosely based on Dale, who has MS, but who is not in a wheelchair like Rachel. Dale helps me with that part of the story. Lila (Sam’s white cat) is based on Milo, our white cat. And as I mentioned earlier, Timmy is a lot like my red-headed grandson, Gordie. Gordie gives me amazing material!! The paranormal part of this story came from pure imagination. One day as I was rototilling my garden, I found a green marble. I held it in my hand, and wondered about the little boy or girl who lost it. I imagined being able to hold it in my hand and be transported back their life. Of course, the mystery part of it started to creep into my brain and that’s how it all started. I’ve had some experiences with my father seeming to contact me after his death. I know it sounds odd, but it was a rather strong and amazing sensation. It comforted me greatly.You and I and S.W. Vaughn used to have a very active critique circle, but the two of you are so prolific, I had to drop out to get some of my own writing done. Who are you working with these days?I miss your participation in our circle, but I totally understood that you needed to get your own work done. I loved your book, Rain Coming and can’t wait until it is published! It’s a powerful story. I still work with Sonya (SW Vaughn) and I’m so grateful for her enthusiasm and insight. She is one of my favorite authors of all time, and I can’t wait until she becomes a household name. I also have a great friend, Nancy Luckhurst, who used to work at Kodak with me. She’s a tight writer who has the ability to see what makes a reader “stutter” over awkward phrases, etc. And now there’s Marta Stephens, author of Silenced Cry, has just started reading For Keeps, the third book in the Sam Moore series. I’ve helped edit her new book, the sequel to Silenced Cry and loved it.You’ve written twelve books; I’ve rewritten the same book about that number of times. Is there ever a point where you say a novel is done, as good as it’s going to get, and there’s nothing left in it that you wish you’d done differently?I’ve written twelve. I’m never really happy with them, even when they are given up to the publisher. Each time I go over one, I think it’s awful. Until I “polish it” and let it sit awhile. Then, after time passes, I read it again and think it’s awful again! But you have to let it go at some point. So hard to do, but necessary if you want to keep your readers happy!Would you like to say a few words about your agent, editor, and / or publisher?Yes! Lida Quillen is my publisher, owner of Twilight Times Books. I’m very happy with this company and proud to be part of her outfit. Recently TTB was awarded membership in the Mystery Writers of America, a rare opportunity for an independent press. What do you think of Amazon’s new electronic book reader, Kindle?I’m not much for e-readers. I like to hold the book in my hand, turn the pages, and be away from electronics for a while, especially while reading at night or on a plane trip. I understand the appeal, however, and hope it does well for those readers whose life it fits.Here’s an opportunity to tell us about any upcoming events you’d like us to know about: Thanks! In January I’ll be meeting with a book club in Canandaigua NY, and in February with a group in Dansville. After that, the new season will start up and I’ll be doing my winery circuit again. Check it out at www.legardemysteries.com/events.htm.It was always a pleasure working with you, Aaron, and I'm honored to be your hostess this week. Thanks for letting me.
Yesterday, I got to see something that most people in this country will never get to see, and if they are very lucky, will never need to see. For the past year -- year and a half, or so -- my husband, who is a construction worker, has been helping build a new addition for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. For those who aren’t Catholic and don’t know, St. Jude is the patron saint of desperate cases, the grantor of miracles. I think some of the miracles involve the construction of the building because I’ve often heard about the difficulties of one part or another as the project evolved. The job is winding down now, and I asked him to take me there, and show me what he’s done. I only saw the new building, which isn’t yet occupied, but it was both scary and awe-inspiring, and brought tears to my eyes without my ever having seen a single patient.St. Jude’s consists of several buildings, and has long been associated with McDonald’s (yes, the hamburger chain), which funds the Ronald McDonald House of Memphis, a supportive home away from home for the families of the children who are receiving treatment at St. Jude. There is no charge to the guests. McDonald’s funds these facilities near hospitals all over the world, so please, the next time you pull up to the drive-through window to pick up your food, think about how grateful you would be if your child were a patient at St. Jude’s, and you needed a place to stay while he or she was receiving treatment. Let your conscience be your guide, and toss as much as you feel you can afford into the collection container provided for that purpose. The particular building I was privileged to tour, however, is funded by Chili’s Bar and Grill, and it is state-of-the-art all the way. I believe another part has been donated by the Delta Delta Delta fraternity. They both have every reason to be proud of their contribution. You may not know it, but no child is ever turned away from St. Jude’s because of a lack of insurance, or inability to pay. They receive the very best care and treatment that it’s humanly possible to provide, and every bit of it is done through donations.The architecture is modern in design with lots of glass and light. The tall, wide-open, vast spaces, and bright, cheerful colors make the spirit soar. Much of the design motif is that of an aquarium, and there’s a sizable saltwater tank already set up with coral, colorful fish, and wiggly anemones. Playstations and X-Boxes wired into many of the supporting columns will provide momentary distractions for young patients who are facing fears much scarier than bogeymen under the bed, or monsters in the closet. One of the first things noticed is the clean, fresh smell of a building that has never been smoked in.Behind the scenes of the plaza level are exam rooms (and dressing rooms) for the patients. On the ceilings above each exam table where a child will lie, are backlit circles, squares, or ovals depicting beautiful and calming scenes of nature: mountains, lakes, oceans, skies, trees, flowers and birds. One of my favorites is a circular picture of geese flying across the backdrop of a full moon. The wide corridors are decorated with paintings in bright colors, many of which appear to be drawings by some of the patients. There are also group photos of the staff, and it’s noticeable that all the nurses in them are young and pretty. The art is hung low enough on the wall to be seen by small people, or someone being wheeled by on a gurney. This floor, which appears to provide the initial introduction to the long road ahead, gives the impression that it may not be so bad, or at least, that an effort is being made to make it as pleasant as possible under the circumstances. One of the things I learned here is that lights automatically go on when someone enters the room, and are on a timer, so they automatically go off soon after the room is exited. The bathrooms are also automated. Nothing in one of them has to be touched by human hands to work.Between each floor are sub-floors the public will never see. Every bit as pristine as the rest of the hospital, they are filled with ductwork and pipes for the massive air ventilation and water systems. All white and aluminum in color, they make scary, science-fiction noises, like Darth Vader’s breathing. The floor above the plaza is the one that filled my eyes with tears. This is where the CT scans and radiation machines are located. I know they’re the best and most up-to-date pieces of medical equipment money can buy, but they also gave me a sense of how barbaric even modern medicine can be. It made me long for a Star Trek cure where Bones would wave a simple hand-held instrument over a person’s body and they’d be instantly cured of whatever ailed them. These machines are both beautiful and fearsome, housed in rooms where the walls are lined with steel and lead, and doors are a foot thick to prevent radiation from escaping, and yet, some young child is going to lie there and soak it up like sun rays, hoping it will cure his or her cancer. It’s the kind of thing you see and think, “Thank God it’s not my child,” but it is someone’s child. One is Colby, the son of my oldest, dearest friend, Johnny. There are another two floors filled with nothing but laboratories, room after huge room, filled with station after station dedicated to research. Each lab has its own “cold room,” resembling, and about the same size, as a restaurant walk-in, except they’re immaculate. I was tempted to open the door to one, but better sense prevailed. Warnings posted on each door led me to believe they are the kind of rooms a person would have to “suit up” to enter. There are red warning lights above each door, and also emergency eye washing stations and showers located in each corridor. None have drains, and while I realize the hazardous materials being washed away can’t be allowed to go into the public water system, it does make me wonder where the contaminated solution ends up. There are also several rooms posted as “isolation rooms.” I don’t know if they’re for workers who might be exposed to contamination, or patients taking chemo who might need to be isolated. Either way is a sobering thought.Another floor that consists of patient rooms is again bright and colorful, filled with modern shapes and designs. Each patient room is a suite, and the attached room is furnished with seating where family members can wait, staying close to their child. There are small passages behind cabinet doors between each room and hall where I assume laundry and trash can be passed out and picked up without someone entering the room. There are also large rooms like wards, where electrical panels on the walls and blue dividing curtains indicate numerous beds will be located. I can’t recall if it was on this floor, or another, but there’s a very nice gray and steel room called the “Reading Room,” dedicated exclusively to reading x-rays. Another floor contains offices, conference rooms, and a cube farm. It’s not a bad looking floor, but it’s obvious all the light and color was saved for patient areas. Understated might be a way to describe it, and if it weren’t a cube farm, I’d add elegant, but I’m glad I won’t have to occupy it for eight hours a day. I think the lack of light would become depressing after a while.You would think “The Penthouse” as the construction workers call the top floor, would be occupied by executive offices, but it’s actually the same as the basement, filled with mechanical equipment I couldn’t identify. Probably boilers, generators, water tanks, heating and cooling devices, etc. Still, it’s as pristine as everything else in the building. One thing that caught my attention was row after row of metal doors to tiny rooms along the circumference of the vast area. I wondered what they were, but didn’t dare touch anything. Later, in the basement, the last area I toured, I saw more of them, and in one or two, a light was on inside, so I was able to look in through the window. These little rooms are lined with air filters. They all seem to be a small part of a very large air filtering system. All around the penthouse is an enclosed catwalk, and in one of the walls to the inside, there are two areas about the size of doorways that appear to be part of the ventilation system, one where air from the outside enters the building, and one where it exits. I don’t know for sure that’s what they are, and neither did my husband because he didn’t work in that area, but that’s what they seem to be. The intake was covered with a foam filter, and oh my lord, you would not believe what we are breathing into our lungs each and every day. This filter is trapping and preventing dirt and pollution from getting inside, and it reminded me of the inside of a vacuum cleaner bag when it needs to be changed. It was obviously working, the first defense in what appears to be a very elaborate system. There were no mechanical engineers around to ask, so I could be wrong about what some of the equipment does, but those are my best guesses. A tour conducted by someone who maintains all that equipment would probably make for an interesting afternoon.Now that the construction is winding down, I’ve noticed the requests for donations is stepping up. Please, this Christmas, buy the gift of life for a child. You can adopt a St. Jude’s child for $20 a month, or just give a $20 donation. Volunteer in one of the many ways you’ll see on the website. If nothing else, give blood. And whenever possible, shop with the stores that give funds to St. Jude’s on a regular basis. No child should die in the dawn of life.
