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That was one of the thoughts swirling in Dana’s head as she
rushed home from an exceptionally long day of teaching.
Nine-year-old Franklin knew he should go to the neighbor’s
house when his mother was running this late. What he didn’t
know was that Dana worried about bills, the house, her job
and a hundred other things. Mostly, she thought about her
husband, Reynolds, who had been accidentally swept away in a
rain-swollen river just months before Franklin was born.
For that, there was simply no closure.
If only they hadn’t argued. If only she hadn’t been so
self-conscious of their mixed-race marriage. If only. If
only.
If only she hadn’t slept with her colleague, Steve.
And that was the hundred-and-first thing on Dana’s mind as
she prepared to turn onto the street where she lived – and
she saw him. Reynolds! Her husband, but when she
stopped, turned around, and tried to find him, he was gone.
Enlisting the help of an alcoholic streetwalker, Dana did
everything she could to locate her beloved, the man she
thought was dead, but he was elusive. Maybe he didn’t want
to be found – but why? She couldn’t talk to his mother about
it; Maureen was very ill. Dana couldn’t talk to Reynolds’
sister; she never liked Dana much at all. Surely, she
couldn’t tell Franklin what was going on…
Until the night Dana realized that she was being stalked.
She needed to keep her son safe from someone – maybe
Reynolds? It wasn’t his nature to play games – was it? And
was that filthy, scruffy, homeless man truly Reynolds… or
was Dana’s still-grieving mind playing tricks?
It’s going to take you less than 210 pages to learn the
answer. Two hundred squirmy, uncomfortable pages and you’ll
enjoy every one of them because Recognition is just
that kind of book.
Tight-tight-tight is the story that author O.H. Bennett
offers us, with no chance to catch a breath or to figure out
if his character, Dana, is remembering or re-living; Bennett
tosses the story back and forth, then and now, so quietly
that we’re never sure. That catch-you-off-guard is an
awesome hook that adds to the surrealism of this tale as
Dana’s confusion becomes our confusion and everything oozes
into a dream-like focus, then careens to an absolutely
golden ending.
My biggest advice is to be patient with this book. It’s a
little odd at the very beginning, but you’ll warm to it
quick. Ultimately, Recognition will be a novel you’ll
want to spend one more day with. |
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