Brian Douglas Holers
Available at Amazon
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: BDH Productions (August 10, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0983775702
ISBN-13: 978-0983775706
I read a lot. So much, in fact, that
sometimes the characters seem to blend together, all examples of
various archetypes: the handsome hero, the brilliant but socially
inept geek, the woman with a past, the misunderstood teen. So it's a
pleasant surprise to find an author who can create characters so
multi-dimensional that they stay on my mind long after the last page
is turned. Vernon Davidson is one of those characters.
One of the reader's first exposures (so to speak) to Vernon is on a Sunday morning, when he plans (as he often does) to do his laundry outdoors in his birthday suit, looking to cause consternation in the ranks of the churchgoers on the other side of the creek. All we know of Vernon at this point is he drinks whiskey and mustard with breakfast, has a real will to cause trouble, and doesn't care a hoot what the rest of the world thinks about him. He appears as the standard stereotype of some old Southern 60-something, ignorant redneck with a mean streak. But Vernon is not what he appears to be. Few of Holer's characters in this book are, with the notable exception of a local bully and a very determined preacher. Even the character that would years ago have been called the “village idiot” spends time researching stuff on the internet.
One of the reader's first exposures (so to speak) to Vernon is on a Sunday morning, when he plans (as he often does) to do his laundry outdoors in his birthday suit, looking to cause consternation in the ranks of the churchgoers on the other side of the creek. All we know of Vernon at this point is he drinks whiskey and mustard with breakfast, has a real will to cause trouble, and doesn't care a hoot what the rest of the world thinks about him. He appears as the standard stereotype of some old Southern 60-something, ignorant redneck with a mean streak. But Vernon is not what he appears to be. Few of Holer's characters in this book are, with the notable exception of a local bully and a very determined preacher. Even the character that would years ago have been called the “village idiot” spends time researching stuff on the internet.
But Vernon has secrets. Terrible
secrets that go back to his childhood, and tragedies in his life that
are pushed deep below the surface. We discover Vernon as he learns
that his brother Leonard is dying, begging Vernon to find his
children and bring them to him, setting off a chain of events that
will force Vernon into a confrontation with reality that will shift
the very foundations of his soul.
