What do you think?
Rate this book
The Sorrow
The Sorrow is a dark crime story that explores the consequences of pain, and losing yourself to it.
Jack Mercer is a struggling cop caught between two worlds - trying to protect his wife and daughter by staying under the radar, or taking the fight to his enemies.
When a breakthrough threatens to uncover grand secrets about the mob, their hand is forced and Jack returns home one night to find his family brutally murdered.
Three weeks later he receives a phone call from his dead daughter.
As Jack chases the ghost of his child, he discovers a darkness within him; a bloodlust that he cannot control.
Jack Mercer is a struggling cop caught between two worlds - trying to protect his wife and daughter by staying under the radar, or taking the fight to his enemies.
When a breakthrough threatens to uncover grand secrets about the mob, their hand is forced and Jack returns home one night to find his family brutally murdered.
Three weeks later he receives a phone call from his dead daughter.
As Jack chases the ghost of his child, he discovers a darkness within him; a bloodlust that he cannot control.
374 pages, ebook
First published February 9, 2014
1 person is currently reading
2 people want to read
About the author
Azhar Amien
3 books5 followersI am an oddity who writes poetry, short stories and novels.
You can freely read my writing on Instagram @storiesbyazhar
You can freely read my writing on Instagram @storiesbyazhar
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 7, 2014
A long slow novel, Azhar Lorgat’s The Sorrow invites readers into the deteriorating life and failing humanity of a man tried beyond his power to endure and compelled by circumstance onto the ruthless path of a vigilante. Darkly detailed murder scenes, gritty gangsters, angst-filled self-analysis, and the modern props of cell-phones and spy cameras give the reader a sense of old-school noir blended with modern detective fiction. Add a hint of Batman without the toys, and you’ll see where it might be going.
Jack Mercer’s almost perfect life never quite looks real in a world he so freely condemns, but the urge to do right leads him to a place where the urge to do wrong might be stronger. Bereft of all he loves, he turns to revenge. While the logic isn’t always convincing in this tale, and complex explanations sometimes detract from the detailed realism, it’s certainly a fascinating depiction of man’s descent into inhumanity. The slow pace leaves readers plenty of time to ponder and draw their own conclusions, and the distant ray of hope continues to promise light at story’s end.
The Sorrow is a dark heavy read, filled with detail and introspection, and set in a dark heavy world, not so far from home.
Disclosure: I won an ecopy and I offer my honest review.
Jack Mercer’s almost perfect life never quite looks real in a world he so freely condemns, but the urge to do right leads him to a place where the urge to do wrong might be stronger. Bereft of all he loves, he turns to revenge. While the logic isn’t always convincing in this tale, and complex explanations sometimes detract from the detailed realism, it’s certainly a fascinating depiction of man’s descent into inhumanity. The slow pace leaves readers plenty of time to ponder and draw their own conclusions, and the distant ray of hope continues to promise light at story’s end.
The Sorrow is a dark heavy read, filled with detail and introspection, and set in a dark heavy world, not so far from home.
Disclosure: I won an ecopy and I offer my honest review.
January 14, 2015
Note: This copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. Full version can be found on The Review Board.
The best way to describe the reading experience of The Sorrow is a roller coaster ride. Even after finishing the read, there is a bit of residual that taunts the mind. Perhaps the best way to settle my equilibrium is to give my assessment of the Pros and Cons.
Pros
Cover Concept: The cover of The Sorrow adopts the basic colors of black, white and red. For me, it symbolized that no matter how much one wants the world to be in black and white, right or wrong, “it is or it isn’t”, there are many things that can corrupt that viewpoint, represented by the splatters of red. Even without my view of the appropriate color selections, the use of the gun and the blood gets to the point and gives a glimpse of what one is going to see: the use of guns and loads of bloodshed.
Complex Main Character: I admire the complexity of Jack, the main character. He’s painted as a idealist, one who wants to change the world while playing by the rules. Yet the tragedy that struck his family turned all of that upside down. His episodes relative to PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) as well as moments when he feels the darkness take over him were quite striking, and I really felt like I was in his mind and going through the motions right along with him.
Attention to Detail in certain segments: Moments when Jack was alone with his thoughts and his confrontations with people related to the search for his daughter were well done.
Different Twist on Kidnapping Angle: I am not going to give away the ending but let’s just say that I definitely didn’t expect how it turned out. Although some readers may find it a bit optimistic and/or unrealistic, the author took a chance on veering from the typical. I give kudos for the initiation.
Cons
Lackluster supporting characters: Although I know Jack was the spotlight, I felt that the other characters existed just for Jack to have people to banter from instead of having their own identities. Each of the mob heads seemed built from one stereotype, with only the crimes to discern them. The only exception was Victor Salvatore, who stood out to me because he was one from the “old school” of mob culture. There could have been a great chance to expand on the interaction with the therapist as well as his fellow co-worker and friend Sarah yet their presence did not leave much of a mark.
Time stamps/scene separators: In the book, the author used spacing to indicate scene separators in chapters. More often than not, it did not hit the mark. I needed a bit more in the form of time stamps. The part which involved the murder of Jack’s family and the psychotherapy needed it the most because I was trying to put together the accuracy of the time between his break from duty and return to duty to ascertain whether this was remotely authentic.
Excessive Info Dumping: When information is given that is used to give a little more detail as to a specific object or serves to enrich the narrative, then the downtime can be forgiven as long as the story still moves along. Yet in The Sorrow, this was done to the extreme and slowed down the action so much that some moments it felt like struggle to keep going. One could have still had the same story if quite a bit of this was cut down or eliminated. Instead, this felt like four different books with the blending of knowledge not being fully successful.
Dry Dialogue: The Sorrow is an intense story but one cannot tell by the back and forth in the dialogue. Some felt a bit comical in the sense that they reminded me of an imitation of mob movies I have seen in the past.
Verdict: 3 out of 5 Stars
Despite all of the things I liked about the story, the underlying impact of the deterrents kept this from getting higher stars. The author definitely has potential when describing psychological sequences and gory crime scenarios but has to make sure not to bog down the reader with too much unnecessary jargon.
The best way to describe the reading experience of The Sorrow is a roller coaster ride. Even after finishing the read, there is a bit of residual that taunts the mind. Perhaps the best way to settle my equilibrium is to give my assessment of the Pros and Cons.
Pros
Cover Concept: The cover of The Sorrow adopts the basic colors of black, white and red. For me, it symbolized that no matter how much one wants the world to be in black and white, right or wrong, “it is or it isn’t”, there are many things that can corrupt that viewpoint, represented by the splatters of red. Even without my view of the appropriate color selections, the use of the gun and the blood gets to the point and gives a glimpse of what one is going to see: the use of guns and loads of bloodshed.
Complex Main Character: I admire the complexity of Jack, the main character. He’s painted as a idealist, one who wants to change the world while playing by the rules. Yet the tragedy that struck his family turned all of that upside down. His episodes relative to PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) as well as moments when he feels the darkness take over him were quite striking, and I really felt like I was in his mind and going through the motions right along with him.
Attention to Detail in certain segments: Moments when Jack was alone with his thoughts and his confrontations with people related to the search for his daughter were well done.
Different Twist on Kidnapping Angle: I am not going to give away the ending but let’s just say that I definitely didn’t expect how it turned out. Although some readers may find it a bit optimistic and/or unrealistic, the author took a chance on veering from the typical. I give kudos for the initiation.
Cons
Lackluster supporting characters: Although I know Jack was the spotlight, I felt that the other characters existed just for Jack to have people to banter from instead of having their own identities. Each of the mob heads seemed built from one stereotype, with only the crimes to discern them. The only exception was Victor Salvatore, who stood out to me because he was one from the “old school” of mob culture. There could have been a great chance to expand on the interaction with the therapist as well as his fellow co-worker and friend Sarah yet their presence did not leave much of a mark.
Time stamps/scene separators: In the book, the author used spacing to indicate scene separators in chapters. More often than not, it did not hit the mark. I needed a bit more in the form of time stamps. The part which involved the murder of Jack’s family and the psychotherapy needed it the most because I was trying to put together the accuracy of the time between his break from duty and return to duty to ascertain whether this was remotely authentic.
Excessive Info Dumping: When information is given that is used to give a little more detail as to a specific object or serves to enrich the narrative, then the downtime can be forgiven as long as the story still moves along. Yet in The Sorrow, this was done to the extreme and slowed down the action so much that some moments it felt like struggle to keep going. One could have still had the same story if quite a bit of this was cut down or eliminated. Instead, this felt like four different books with the blending of knowledge not being fully successful.
Dry Dialogue: The Sorrow is an intense story but one cannot tell by the back and forth in the dialogue. Some felt a bit comical in the sense that they reminded me of an imitation of mob movies I have seen in the past.
Verdict: 3 out of 5 Stars
Despite all of the things I liked about the story, the underlying impact of the deterrents kept this from getting higher stars. The author definitely has potential when describing psychological sequences and gory crime scenarios but has to make sure not to bog down the reader with too much unnecessary jargon.
January 13, 2015
*Full review can be found here: http://therevboard.com/2015/01/13/unl... *
Azhar Lorgat’s 260-page crime thriller “The Sorrow” revolves around Jack Mercer.
Jack Mercer, a Police officer who becomes a detective, is hot on the trail of the mob that runs the city that he swore to protect. At the support of his wife Nicole (initially), he keeps digging and finds with his partner Sarah a treasure trove of information that could turn the mob onto their ears.
Citing his discoveries, he strongly feels and believes that the mob can be dismantled and the city that he holds dear to his heart can return to its former glory and prestige.
Sadly, that would not be the case as he discovers one night a crime scene that is so grisly, he questions everything he thought he knew about himself and life.
Needing to face his demons, he takes up the advice of his partner Sarah and seeks professional help. Unearthing some uncomfortable truths about his feelings and emotions, Jack makes several decisions that could make or break the rest of his life, let alone his sanity.
In some ways I can relate to Jack, sans certain events. Allow me to package it in this inquisitive fashion:
“Have you ever wanted something or an outcome SO BADLY that NO MATTER how much you prepare and gather information, you dive head first into said situation only to realize that once the situation reaches or reached its climatic apex that everything you once thought you had begins to slip from your fingertips at an uncontrollable rate?”
Yeah: TOO MUCH THINKING, no matter the time of day.
That is Jack’s Life from that grisly point moving forward.
There are missed opportunities in the realm of proofreading, most specifically missing quotations, wordiness to the point where tangents and loose ends do not meet, and cohesiveness in the story telling glue.
It is a shame to say that this story started out as a promising crime thriller that would have delivered on an epic level, yet it did not continue as such as I kept reading. There IS promise if Mr. Lorgat reduced his tangents and MacGyer-like descriptions of several items. The story could have been shorter and more solid had he taken that path.
Azhar Lorgat’s “The Sorrow” has a solid premise and great promise; those are facts that I will not take away. I can only hope that if Mr. Lorgat decides to come out with a revised version of his story, I will be open to read it and compare to see if the takeaways that he would read here are utilized to the fullest.
Azhar Lorgat’s 260-page crime thriller “The Sorrow” revolves around Jack Mercer.
Jack Mercer, a Police officer who becomes a detective, is hot on the trail of the mob that runs the city that he swore to protect. At the support of his wife Nicole (initially), he keeps digging and finds with his partner Sarah a treasure trove of information that could turn the mob onto their ears.
Citing his discoveries, he strongly feels and believes that the mob can be dismantled and the city that he holds dear to his heart can return to its former glory and prestige.
Sadly, that would not be the case as he discovers one night a crime scene that is so grisly, he questions everything he thought he knew about himself and life.
Needing to face his demons, he takes up the advice of his partner Sarah and seeks professional help. Unearthing some uncomfortable truths about his feelings and emotions, Jack makes several decisions that could make or break the rest of his life, let alone his sanity.
In some ways I can relate to Jack, sans certain events. Allow me to package it in this inquisitive fashion:
“Have you ever wanted something or an outcome SO BADLY that NO MATTER how much you prepare and gather information, you dive head first into said situation only to realize that once the situation reaches or reached its climatic apex that everything you once thought you had begins to slip from your fingertips at an uncontrollable rate?”
Yeah: TOO MUCH THINKING, no matter the time of day.
That is Jack’s Life from that grisly point moving forward.
There are missed opportunities in the realm of proofreading, most specifically missing quotations, wordiness to the point where tangents and loose ends do not meet, and cohesiveness in the story telling glue.
It is a shame to say that this story started out as a promising crime thriller that would have delivered on an epic level, yet it did not continue as such as I kept reading. There IS promise if Mr. Lorgat reduced his tangents and MacGyer-like descriptions of several items. The story could have been shorter and more solid had he taken that path.
Azhar Lorgat’s “The Sorrow” has a solid premise and great promise; those are facts that I will not take away. I can only hope that if Mr. Lorgat decides to come out with a revised version of his story, I will be open to read it and compare to see if the takeaways that he would read here are utilized to the fullest.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews