ATHOL DICKSON

Literature

January Justice – First Pages

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JanuaryJustice_AtholDickson_FullCover_Final_small
January Justice, by Athol Dickson

Here are a few paragraphs from chapter 1 of my most recent novel. I hope you enjoy…

One of the strangest things about the city was the sudden way it disappeared around the edges. One minute you were down on Sunset surrounded by glass and concrete, and the next thing you knew you were up on Mulholland, alone in the rough country. From a high window or a rooftop almost anywhere in Los Angeles you could see the mountains, and there was always a chance something hungry was up there looking down at you.

I was standing among the hungry creatures up at the edge of a cliff, with Hollywood and Santa Monica far below me in the distance. One step forward, and I would be in midair. I was looking down and wondering if Haley had considered how suddenly you could go from city to wilderness. Then I wondered if it was a distinction without a difference, if the city might be the wilderness and the wilderness the city, and maybe Los Angeles’s edges seemed to disappear so suddenly because there really were no edges, no difference between sidewalks and mountain paths, buildings and boulders. Up in the mountains or down in the city, either way the carnivores were in control.

I imagined Haley, out of her mind, running full speed off the cliff. I wondered what it had been like, that final second or two before she hit. Had she realized what was happening? Did she recognize the city lights below for what they were, or did she really think she was flying toward the stars? And did she think of me?

Stepping closer to the edge, I slid the toes of my shoes into the air. I looked down two hundred feet, toward the spot where she had broken on the rocks. I stood one inch from eternity and tried to imagine life without her. I could not summon up a single reason why I should not take that final step, except for one. I thought about the kind of animal that would drive someone to do what my wife had done. Predators like that were everywhere. I should know. I had trained for half my life to be one of them. I was hungry, looking down on the city. If I was going to live, the hunger would have to be enough, for now. I would sink my teeth into him, sooner or later. I would do that for Haley, and for myself, and then maybe it would be time to see if I could fly.

I stepped back from the edge.

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A Review of The Cure

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The Cure, by Athol Dickson
The Cure, by Athol Dickson

It’s gratifying when readers take the time to review one of my books. Here’s a review posted at Amazon by Claudette Wood.

She dropped the envelope in the offering plate. The note inside it read, “May the Lord forgive me, I should have done this long ago. Whoever opens this, please give it to the pastor. He’ll know what to do. Tell him it will cure alcoholics, and I want everyone to have it. Tell him if they ever drink again, the urge will return stronger than ever. I used to think there was a way to fix that too, but now I know there isn’t. Anyway, this will cure them so long as they never drink another drop.”

A rumor that someone in his hometown has discovered the cure for alcoholism brings Riley Keep back to the place of his past. Hoping to find cash to buy alcohol in an envelope stolen from a church’s offering plate, Riley instead discovers a small amount of the cure–along with the formula for the cure. He views the discovery as a Godsend; yet what happens after his cure is anything but a blessing. Riley makes an effort to right the wrongs he has committed–some real and some a product of a terrible lie he’s accepted as truth. No matter what he does, though, nothing works out for the good, with the result being a town destroyed by desperate people hoping for an instant cure; a seriously wounded wife; and a hunted woman murdered for what she knows, and Riley accused of her murder.

Upon learning of his teenage daughter, Bree’s, pregnancy, Riley offers to take care of her by buying her a house, a car, everything she will ever need–all from the money he earned by selling a stolen formula to a (dishonest) corporation. Her answer to him is no.

She tells him, “I think sometimes the right thing is the wrong thing. I made a bad mistake. I need to live with this, you know? Not take the easy way out this time. I think that’s how God shows you the way to be a person.”

The time you spend reading The Cure will be time well spent. It speaks to alcohol addiction, but is relevant to all addiction. There is no fairy-tale ending here. Real life isn’t that way (it’s only one of the things I admire about Athol Dickson’s ability to tell a story). This is a story of failure, as we are reminded by Riley’s example we can’t do it all by ourselves. It is also a story of faithfulness, shown by the commitment of an abandoned wife who keeps her vows to a man through the worst part of “for better or worse.” Most important, it’s a story of redemption, as we are reminded that God never leaves us, no matter how deep we live in our sins.

GET YOUR COPY HERE.