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Heaven Again
Six-year-old Jeanine Alden is murdered by Frank Hynek. He is tried and convicted. During the sentencing hearing, the girl’s father, Glenn, kills Hynek. Though tried for this killing, Glenn is acquitted. During a news conference, Frank’s sister, Sarah Tolbert, swears vengeance against Glenn. A radio DJ by profession, Glenn quits talking and walks away. He ends up 200 miles from home on a ranch.
Glenn also walked away from his wife, Janet. She is left to pay for their new home on her salary working at a women’s clinic. Unlike Glenn, Janet will not give up on her life. She receives ugly calls from strangers who blame Janet for her daughter’s death. She works seven days a week to occupy her mind. She wears the same outfit each day because Glenn bought it for her. After Janet reviles a woman for not paying her bill, the clinic owner tells Janet to attend counseling, or quit. At the counseling session, Janet has a nervous breakdown.
The story portrays Glenn’s slow emotional healing and Janet’s simultaneous deterioration. After nine months without speaking, Glenn is ready to return home, and Janet can no longer survive without him. On his way home, however, Glenn sees his daughter. Glenn follows her to a motel, where Sarah Tolbert waits. Intending to torment her brother’s killer, Sarah found a girl who closely resembles dead Jeanine. But deluded Glenn is convinced that his daughter never died. He barricades the three in the motel room.
Death, despair, and revenge are the three evils that Glenn and Janet Alden defeat in Heaven Again, a novel that ultimately is ingratiating and uplifting in depicting the profound reunion of husband and wife.
Glenn also walked away from his wife, Janet. She is left to pay for their new home on her salary working at a women’s clinic. Unlike Glenn, Janet will not give up on her life. She receives ugly calls from strangers who blame Janet for her daughter’s death. She works seven days a week to occupy her mind. She wears the same outfit each day because Glenn bought it for her. After Janet reviles a woman for not paying her bill, the clinic owner tells Janet to attend counseling, or quit. At the counseling session, Janet has a nervous breakdown.
The story portrays Glenn’s slow emotional healing and Janet’s simultaneous deterioration. After nine months without speaking, Glenn is ready to return home, and Janet can no longer survive without him. On his way home, however, Glenn sees his daughter. Glenn follows her to a motel, where Sarah Tolbert waits. Intending to torment her brother’s killer, Sarah found a girl who closely resembles dead Jeanine. But deluded Glenn is convinced that his daughter never died. He barricades the three in the motel room.
Death, despair, and revenge are the three evils that Glenn and Janet Alden defeat in Heaven Again, a novel that ultimately is ingratiating and uplifting in depicting the profound reunion of husband and wife.
ebook
First published September 13, 2011
About the author
H.C. Turk
33 books11 followersA: This is hard.
Q: Why is making a bio so hard for you?
A: Because it's like talking. I don't like to talk; I like to write.
Q: But people want to know about authors. Reading a book requires a lot of effort.
A: Writing one ain't exactly playtime.
Q: That's better. Go ahead, tell us more. Did you have a pleasant childhood?
A: Ask my dog; he was there.
Q: Your dog is stuffed. He's not a real dog.
A: He's more real than you are. You can’t even ask a good question.
Q: Here’s one: Why should people read your books?
A: Because my puppy will be sad if they don’t.
Q: We need to get serious here. How many novels have you written?
A: 33.
Q: I’ll bet your dog can’t count that high. How long have you been writing?
A: I’ll answer if you promise not to kick my dog again (metaphorically).
Q: He wouldn’t feel it—he’s stuffed.
A: If someone kicked the stuffing out of you, I bet you wouldn’t enjoy it.
Q: Would I enjoy it more than reading one of your books? Or would it be equally painful?
A: You’re cruel to dogs AND to authors.
Q: If you answer my last question, I promise to be nice. How many years have you been writing?
A: [mumbles]
Q: That’s pathetic.
A: Why don’t you ask me about my stories?
Q: Stories are for campfires.
A: The basis of history’s greatest novels is the story: the story of nations, cultures, families, individuals. The greatest idea that can be expressed in fiction is story.
Q: Great, so tell me about your characters.
A: Dull and Dumb are not two of my characters, or characteristics.
Q: Do you ever write about animals, stuffed or not?
A: Rescued greyhounds in Heaven Again, tiny ponies in Only The Impassioned, mudfish in Resurrection Flowers, ghosts in An Atmosphere Of Angels.
Q: Ghosts aren’t animals, they’re unsettled spirits. If ghosts continue to read, what will they find in your novels?
A: They will find passion, idea, and spirited characters whose lives are a story. And puppies.
Q: Why is making a bio so hard for you?
A: Because it's like talking. I don't like to talk; I like to write.
Q: But people want to know about authors. Reading a book requires a lot of effort.
A: Writing one ain't exactly playtime.
Q: That's better. Go ahead, tell us more. Did you have a pleasant childhood?
A: Ask my dog; he was there.
Q: Your dog is stuffed. He's not a real dog.
A: He's more real than you are. You can’t even ask a good question.
Q: Here’s one: Why should people read your books?
A: Because my puppy will be sad if they don’t.
Q: We need to get serious here. How many novels have you written?
A: 33.
Q: I’ll bet your dog can’t count that high. How long have you been writing?
A: I’ll answer if you promise not to kick my dog again (metaphorically).
Q: He wouldn’t feel it—he’s stuffed.
A: If someone kicked the stuffing out of you, I bet you wouldn’t enjoy it.
Q: Would I enjoy it more than reading one of your books? Or would it be equally painful?
A: You’re cruel to dogs AND to authors.
Q: If you answer my last question, I promise to be nice. How many years have you been writing?
A: [mumbles]
Q: That’s pathetic.
A: Why don’t you ask me about my stories?
Q: Stories are for campfires.
A: The basis of history’s greatest novels is the story: the story of nations, cultures, families, individuals. The greatest idea that can be expressed in fiction is story.
Q: Great, so tell me about your characters.
A: Dull and Dumb are not two of my characters, or characteristics.
Q: Do you ever write about animals, stuffed or not?
A: Rescued greyhounds in Heaven Again, tiny ponies in Only The Impassioned, mudfish in Resurrection Flowers, ghosts in An Atmosphere Of Angels.
Q: Ghosts aren’t animals, they’re unsettled spirits. If ghosts continue to read, what will they find in your novels?
A: They will find passion, idea, and spirited characters whose lives are a story. And puppies.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 27, 2011
3.5 Stars!
Heaven Again is heart wrenching in it's depiction of the rape and murder of a child and how it affects the parents of this girl. In it you will not find the expected reaction from the parents who are mourning their daughter. There are no scenes of mutual comfort and commiseration between husband and wife. There are no gatherings of supportive family members to ease pain and take care of the minutiae of day to day life chores as the parents grieve.
Glenn and Janet Alden deal with their pain and anger much differently and separate from each other.
Glenn, having escaped prison for killing the man who murdered his six year old daughter, disappears into the anonymity of a handyman who does not speak. Janet becomes an increasingly angry and hateful person, throwing herself in to work so she cannot think or feel. Both are spiraling toward the inevitability of madness unless a miracle occurs and it is uncomfortable to watch.
This, to me, makes the persons of Glenn and Janet Alden real. I ached for their pain and hoped for sanity and acceptance to heal them.
HC Turk tells a compelling story, while at times it loses fluidity, it makes up for it in heart. A worthwhile read that will touch you in many ways.
Book Summary: Six-year-old Jeanine Alden is murdered by Frank Hynek. He is tried and convicted. During the sentencing hearing, the girl's father, Glenn, kills Hynek. Though tried for this killing, Glenn is acquitted. Then he walks away from his life, and from his wife, Janet. Both parents then have to recover from their child's death, Glenn's sad, disastrous vengeance, and his desperate escape. Death, despair, and revenge are the three evils that Glenn and Janet Alden defeat in Heaven Again, a novel that ultimately is ingratiating and uplifting in depicting the profound reunion of husband and wife.
Heaven Again is heart wrenching in it's depiction of the rape and murder of a child and how it affects the parents of this girl. In it you will not find the expected reaction from the parents who are mourning their daughter. There are no scenes of mutual comfort and commiseration between husband and wife. There are no gatherings of supportive family members to ease pain and take care of the minutiae of day to day life chores as the parents grieve.
Glenn and Janet Alden deal with their pain and anger much differently and separate from each other.
Glenn, having escaped prison for killing the man who murdered his six year old daughter, disappears into the anonymity of a handyman who does not speak. Janet becomes an increasingly angry and hateful person, throwing herself in to work so she cannot think or feel. Both are spiraling toward the inevitability of madness unless a miracle occurs and it is uncomfortable to watch.
This, to me, makes the persons of Glenn and Janet Alden real. I ached for their pain and hoped for sanity and acceptance to heal them.
HC Turk tells a compelling story, while at times it loses fluidity, it makes up for it in heart. A worthwhile read that will touch you in many ways.
Book Summary: Six-year-old Jeanine Alden is murdered by Frank Hynek. He is tried and convicted. During the sentencing hearing, the girl's father, Glenn, kills Hynek. Though tried for this killing, Glenn is acquitted. Then he walks away from his life, and from his wife, Janet. Both parents then have to recover from their child's death, Glenn's sad, disastrous vengeance, and his desperate escape. Death, despair, and revenge are the three evils that Glenn and Janet Alden defeat in Heaven Again, a novel that ultimately is ingratiating and uplifting in depicting the profound reunion of husband and wife.
December 28, 2011
Grief and guilt ripple through Heaven Again by H. C. Turk, but not in a morose or self-pitying way. Despite emotionally weighed-down characters and tragic events, this compact, engaging novel that takes place in fictional locales in Florida compels the reader more to contemplation than anger, tears, or depression.
The opening is brutal but thankfully not graphically so, with Frank Hynek—Old enough to vote but too young to be president—sexually assaulting six-year-old Jeanine Alden. Her daddy’s voice on the radio—Glenn Alden is a popular local deejay—inspires her to resist, but then Frank accidentally kills her. He gives himself up yet claims innocence during his trial, attributing his actions to his own traumatic upbringing. This provokes Glenn Alden to attack his daughter’s killer right in the courtroom, exacting swift justice. In Glenn’s subsequent murder trial the jury finds him not guilty, to the righteous satisfaction of the town’s citizens.
Except for Frank’s outraged sister, Sarah Tolbert, who undertakes a campaign of harrassment at Janet Alden, Jeanine’s mother. Janet is alone now—she and Glenn having separated before Frank’s trial—and bears the blame in Sarah’s eyes for the death of her ‘innocent’ Frank. The police can or will do nothing about this harassment and Janet, already a wreck, deteriorates further. Her erratic moods and actions alienate her sister, friends, and co-workers. Meanwhile, Glenn has found anonymity a few hours drive away with the Gronshevs, an eccentric Eastern European immigrant family who are also mourning the recent loss of a child.
The grief and guilt Janet and Glenn experience independently, combined with a latent longing and need for each other, constantly interrupt the mundane activities of their altered lives. Not a day goes by in which a routine event will prompt a chilling, randomly timed thought about their lost child. Neither seeks help from anyone though. Janet spurns it whenever offered while Glenn, who has elected to mute his well-known voice, hides behind silence and dutiful attention to refurbishing trailers on the Gronshev farm. Only through Sarah’s vengeful actions do the two eventually find some kind of resolution. The plot is tight and tidy.
The writing is also tight and I never felt any scenes, except for one noted below, dragged. But it could be tidier. An over-reliance on sentences beginning with participial phrases became distracting for me. As was the use of negatives to add artificial profundity—Glenn shook his head in no direction that communicated a clear idea—or unsophisticated expressions such as—A hundred eyes looked to him. Also, the novel is sprinkled with abstract aphorisms that sometimes added a mystical element—Children and animals create beauty without grasping the term, mute to the expression of magnificent ideas—but at other times were too obscure to enhance the reading—Patrician ladies gasp when stricken by magnificence.
These points, along with the infrequent proofing mistakes, while worth noting, do not take away from the novel’s strength, which is its handling of nearly all its characters. We aren’t asked to feel sorry for Janet and Glenn, or even Sarah, but we willingly empathize with them; their situations bring out sentiment without resorting to sentimentality. Their odd actions never strike the reader as implausible, yet still offer surprise. The omniscient voice ensures each perspective, even Frank’s, is given a fair shake, leaving it up to the reader to work out any judgements.
One character stood out, the noble and enchanting Petra Gronshev, who added vibrant colour to a dark story:
Though hot for spring in Central Florida, this month would set no record. Though the temperature would reach the high eighties that day, there stood Petra in a long dress, almost formal in design, of brocaded linen with a subtle flower motif. In another living, Glenn had admired grown-up women who kept their hair long. Petra was a handsome lady with an elegant mien, her thick, greying hair ending at her shoulders. Glenn would not call her snooty, but her demeanor suggested giving orders instead of taking them. Pronouncing decrees perhaps.
Petra is a scene stealer. To the point she made lesser characters, such as Latona and Yount, pale to the point of irrelevance. The scene near the end in which Yount argues with Latona could have and should have been scrapped. Its incongruity to the rest threatened to ruin the entire book for me. Fortunately, the strength of what came before it, as well as a satisfying ending, ensured I came away with a positive reading experience overall.
The opening is brutal but thankfully not graphically so, with Frank Hynek—Old enough to vote but too young to be president—sexually assaulting six-year-old Jeanine Alden. Her daddy’s voice on the radio—Glenn Alden is a popular local deejay—inspires her to resist, but then Frank accidentally kills her. He gives himself up yet claims innocence during his trial, attributing his actions to his own traumatic upbringing. This provokes Glenn Alden to attack his daughter’s killer right in the courtroom, exacting swift justice. In Glenn’s subsequent murder trial the jury finds him not guilty, to the righteous satisfaction of the town’s citizens.
Except for Frank’s outraged sister, Sarah Tolbert, who undertakes a campaign of harrassment at Janet Alden, Jeanine’s mother. Janet is alone now—she and Glenn having separated before Frank’s trial—and bears the blame in Sarah’s eyes for the death of her ‘innocent’ Frank. The police can or will do nothing about this harassment and Janet, already a wreck, deteriorates further. Her erratic moods and actions alienate her sister, friends, and co-workers. Meanwhile, Glenn has found anonymity a few hours drive away with the Gronshevs, an eccentric Eastern European immigrant family who are also mourning the recent loss of a child.
The grief and guilt Janet and Glenn experience independently, combined with a latent longing and need for each other, constantly interrupt the mundane activities of their altered lives. Not a day goes by in which a routine event will prompt a chilling, randomly timed thought about their lost child. Neither seeks help from anyone though. Janet spurns it whenever offered while Glenn, who has elected to mute his well-known voice, hides behind silence and dutiful attention to refurbishing trailers on the Gronshev farm. Only through Sarah’s vengeful actions do the two eventually find some kind of resolution. The plot is tight and tidy.
The writing is also tight and I never felt any scenes, except for one noted below, dragged. But it could be tidier. An over-reliance on sentences beginning with participial phrases became distracting for me. As was the use of negatives to add artificial profundity—Glenn shook his head in no direction that communicated a clear idea—or unsophisticated expressions such as—A hundred eyes looked to him. Also, the novel is sprinkled with abstract aphorisms that sometimes added a mystical element—Children and animals create beauty without grasping the term, mute to the expression of magnificent ideas—but at other times were too obscure to enhance the reading—Patrician ladies gasp when stricken by magnificence.
These points, along with the infrequent proofing mistakes, while worth noting, do not take away from the novel’s strength, which is its handling of nearly all its characters. We aren’t asked to feel sorry for Janet and Glenn, or even Sarah, but we willingly empathize with them; their situations bring out sentiment without resorting to sentimentality. Their odd actions never strike the reader as implausible, yet still offer surprise. The omniscient voice ensures each perspective, even Frank’s, is given a fair shake, leaving it up to the reader to work out any judgements.
One character stood out, the noble and enchanting Petra Gronshev, who added vibrant colour to a dark story:
Though hot for spring in Central Florida, this month would set no record. Though the temperature would reach the high eighties that day, there stood Petra in a long dress, almost formal in design, of brocaded linen with a subtle flower motif. In another living, Glenn had admired grown-up women who kept their hair long. Petra was a handsome lady with an elegant mien, her thick, greying hair ending at her shoulders. Glenn would not call her snooty, but her demeanor suggested giving orders instead of taking them. Pronouncing decrees perhaps.
Petra is a scene stealer. To the point she made lesser characters, such as Latona and Yount, pale to the point of irrelevance. The scene near the end in which Yount argues with Latona could have and should have been scrapped. Its incongruity to the rest threatened to ruin the entire book for me. Fortunately, the strength of what came before it, as well as a satisfying ending, ensured I came away with a positive reading experience overall.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews