New Review for
The Mysterious Treasure of Jerry Lee Thorton...

Memories of childhood are often like viewing an object through a thick mist at twilight: fragmented glimpses that last only for a moment before disappearing once again. Reading "The Mysterious Treasure of Jerry Lee Thorton" produces the same effect. Mike Thomas invites his readers to remember a time and innocence in a way that is more visceral than intellectual. While some memories remind you about a subject; these memories are the subject.

Much more than a simple coming of age story, "The Mysterious Treasure of Jerry Lee Thorton" is also a work of cultural anthropology. It animates a time, place, and way of life foreign to those of us raised north and west of the Mason/Dixon line.

Thomas' use of idiom and colloquialism, as well as the simple decency of the characters, leaves the reader wanting to get on the next plane and experience this fictional life firsthand. I can honestly say I have not wanted to visit an imaginary locale this badly since first being introduced to Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Like J.K. Rowling, Mike Thomas has managed to produce a work that can be enjoyed by both tweens experiencing these emotions for the first time, and more seasoned readers who are able to remember a time before the cares of the world threatened to extinguish all youthful optimism and hope.

I cannot wait to share this enchanting work with my family and friends.

Paul Cline - Albuquerque, New Mexico
Mike Thomas