Book Review: The Days When You Were Anything Else

Author: Marcus Sakey www.marcussakey.com

Publisher: Smashwords

Format: e-Book, short story

It’s not often I come across a story or book that immediately pulls me in, but The Days When You Were Anything Else certainly did. I’ve always been a fan of fiction written in first person, too, so that was an added bonus.

Many of you are probably fans of the Travel Channel show Hidden City where Mr. Sakey researches crimes from a novelist’s point of view. It’s one of my favorite shows and even my youngest son will sometimes sit and watch it with me (he especially liked the episode involving Bum Farto, but it sort of catered to a seven-year-old boy’s sense of humor, lol). Anyway, the show is entertaining, creative and full of interesting history, which is right up my alley. It turns out Mr. Sakey’s fiction is just as entertaining.

I friend-ed Mr. Sakey on Facebook, and a few days later he posted a link to a temporarily free download of his short story. Curious, I downloaded it and read it last week. I must say I was quite impressed and will definitely find more of this author’s work to devour.

So what’s the story about?

It’s pretty simple, really. What will a parent do for his child—or should I say what will he not do?

In a nutshell, Frank is an ex-con. While he was incarcerated, his wife died and his daughter, Jessica, became a teenage runaway. Now on the outside, he ekes out a living as he waits for phone calls from his daughter. Even though she blames him for everything bad in her life, he at least gets to hear her voice.

I won’t give the entire story away, but when Jessica is kidnapped, Frank realizes what lengths he’ll go to for his li’l girl. This story really makes the reader stop and think about what’s important in life, what we will and won’t do for our children, and what we deem as right and wrong. I just hope Jessica learned a valuable lesson about her father—one I like to believe brought them back together and set them both on the right path.

This is a poignant story woven with a bold, easy style full of rich details that bring the characters to life. If you’d like to buy a copy of The Days When You Were Anything Else, you can find it here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/19303

And here's the Kindle link too: http://www.amazon.com/Days-When-Were-Anything-ebook/dp/B003WEA1H8/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329153799&sr=1-11

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Disclaimer: all books reviewed by 4SW have been purchased or are free offers downloaded by the individual reviewer; some may even be borrowed from our local libraries.