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Schism
In May of 1970, Jackson Boone is unhappily teaching sociology at Indiana University amid the turmoil of campus unrest and disagreements with his superiors. His world is suddenly turned upside down when, according to the police, his girlfriend commits suicide. In searching for the truth about her, he finds out she led a double life and was deeply involved with an underground group of radicals hell-bent on destruction. The police also may be wrong about her suicide. Boone takes a wild ride through radical politics, drug highs, and murder while trying to solve the mystery of her death. This debut novel offers a realistic portrayal of life on college campuses during one of the most violent and turbulent years in American history. The author has succeeded in creating an outsider protagonist who, in the tradition of Graham Greene and Patricia Highsmith, doesn’t easily fit into the everyday social world.
- GenresMystery
181 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 16, 2014
About the author
Gregory Eaves
3 books59 followers Gregory Eaves was born October 18, 1950, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He attended Speedway High School and Indiana University. In his twenties, he traveled extensively throughout the United States, with an eight year stay in San Diego, California, where he studied and practiced meditation.
Gregory moved to Florida and completed a master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of South Florida.
Library school rekindled his interest in reading, which had been his favorite activity as a child growing up. Mysteries had been his first love, and he devoured his first mystery books with singular passion and zeal. Nothing else seemed to hit the sweet spot like reading The Hardy Boys, Sherlock Holmes, and Poirot. He later enjoyed authors like Raymond Chandler, John D. McDonald, Graham Greene, Patricia Highsmith, and others.
THE DISSENTER is Gregory’s first novel. His prior experience with writing included poetry and short stories. One of his short-shorts won runner-up in a contest in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.
He now lives on the east coast of Florida, and when he isn’t writing, he enjoys playing guitar and collecting vintage stereo gear and vinyl records. He is a member of American Mensa.
Gregory moved to Florida and completed a master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of South Florida.
Library school rekindled his interest in reading, which had been his favorite activity as a child growing up. Mysteries had been his first love, and he devoured his first mystery books with singular passion and zeal. Nothing else seemed to hit the sweet spot like reading The Hardy Boys, Sherlock Holmes, and Poirot. He later enjoyed authors like Raymond Chandler, John D. McDonald, Graham Greene, Patricia Highsmith, and others.
THE DISSENTER is Gregory’s first novel. His prior experience with writing included poetry and short stories. One of his short-shorts won runner-up in a contest in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.
He now lives on the east coast of Florida, and when he isn’t writing, he enjoys playing guitar and collecting vintage stereo gear and vinyl records. He is a member of American Mensa.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 20, 2014
Schism by Gregory Eaves is a 2014 publication. I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This story will take you back to an uneasy era of time in the early 1970's when the frustration with the Vietnam war was reaching a fever pitch and the protest on college campuses turned violent and deadly. But, there were underground radical groups who had their own ideas on how to send a strong message on ending the war.
This atmosphere is where sociology professor Jackson Boone finds himself embroiled in a world he never dreamed he would find himself.
After the death of his girlfriend, allegedly by suicide, Jackson begins to think that determination is wrong. His suspicions are confirmed by an anonymous source which has Jackson learning his sweet young girlfriend had a very dark side.
Jackson has been on the wrong side of the fence himself and is waiting to hear if he will still have a job. He uses this period of time to try and discover what really happened to his girlfriend.
The author does an incredible job of depicting the atmosphere of this era and life on a typical college campus in those days. Drug use was rampant, protest occurred daily, hippies and radicals rubbed elbows, and mild mannered professors could have found themselves involved in a conspiracy without even meaning to. Jackson is a guy who is neither or when it comes to some of the hot button issues making headlines in 1970. He had avoided drugs and seems apolitical for the most part, although he sympathized with anyone who had been called up in the draft. This gives him a certain offbeat impression and perhaps he is bit naïve too. He certainly had no clue what was going on with his girlfriend or what he was about to get himself involved in.
The FBI of course is involved in the case, perhaps covering up the truth, something that is difficult for the straight laced person of the day to accept. Jackson's journey will take him deep into a mind of some hard core radicals and he will end up being a person of interest to several people.
Each chapter has a quote from an actual newspaper headline from 1970, all of which pertained to the war, college campuses and so on. I don't know why, but this story left me with a bit of a chill. I felt almost nervous and a bit queasy due to the feeling this story was just a bit too close to reality. The ending is tense and gritty and frankly it left me feeling a little stunned.
Overall this is a dark story, not the type of thing you expect when reading a psychological thriller, but really absorbing. 4 stars.
This story will take you back to an uneasy era of time in the early 1970's when the frustration with the Vietnam war was reaching a fever pitch and the protest on college campuses turned violent and deadly. But, there were underground radical groups who had their own ideas on how to send a strong message on ending the war.
This atmosphere is where sociology professor Jackson Boone finds himself embroiled in a world he never dreamed he would find himself.
After the death of his girlfriend, allegedly by suicide, Jackson begins to think that determination is wrong. His suspicions are confirmed by an anonymous source which has Jackson learning his sweet young girlfriend had a very dark side.
Jackson has been on the wrong side of the fence himself and is waiting to hear if he will still have a job. He uses this period of time to try and discover what really happened to his girlfriend.
The author does an incredible job of depicting the atmosphere of this era and life on a typical college campus in those days. Drug use was rampant, protest occurred daily, hippies and radicals rubbed elbows, and mild mannered professors could have found themselves involved in a conspiracy without even meaning to. Jackson is a guy who is neither or when it comes to some of the hot button issues making headlines in 1970. He had avoided drugs and seems apolitical for the most part, although he sympathized with anyone who had been called up in the draft. This gives him a certain offbeat impression and perhaps he is bit naïve too. He certainly had no clue what was going on with his girlfriend or what he was about to get himself involved in.
The FBI of course is involved in the case, perhaps covering up the truth, something that is difficult for the straight laced person of the day to accept. Jackson's journey will take him deep into a mind of some hard core radicals and he will end up being a person of interest to several people.
Each chapter has a quote from an actual newspaper headline from 1970, all of which pertained to the war, college campuses and so on. I don't know why, but this story left me with a bit of a chill. I felt almost nervous and a bit queasy due to the feeling this story was just a bit too close to reality. The ending is tense and gritty and frankly it left me feeling a little stunned.
Overall this is a dark story, not the type of thing you expect when reading a psychological thriller, but really absorbing. 4 stars.
January 30, 2015
Jackson Boone is a middle-aged college professor who is on the fringe of life--he supports the look (he lets his hair grow long), but does not espouse either the hippy or the radical philosophy of life. He's having a secret affair with a graduate student and has been accused (and rightfully so) of plagiarism. However, once Susan is found dead, things take a drastic turn.
Mr. Eaves has caught the spirit of the age perfectly--during a time when unrest on college campuses were rampant, people (like Boone) who had been content to drift along, are suddenly forced to take sides and are faced with decisions they had never thought to make. Boone is determined to find out the truth about Susan--but what he discovers sends him down an ever deepening spiral of choices and he soon finds himself in more trouble than he ever expected.
This is not an easy character to like--but at the same time, Mr. Eaves has created a very compelling character--one who is not easily forgotten. This is a dark book about how one bad choice can lead to others with deadly results and about a time when things weren't as black and white as they once were--there are many shades of gray, and Boone gets caught up in all the ambiguities of the time.
Good job, Mr. Eaves.
Mr. Eaves has caught the spirit of the age perfectly--during a time when unrest on college campuses were rampant, people (like Boone) who had been content to drift along, are suddenly forced to take sides and are faced with decisions they had never thought to make. Boone is determined to find out the truth about Susan--but what he discovers sends him down an ever deepening spiral of choices and he soon finds himself in more trouble than he ever expected.
This is not an easy character to like--but at the same time, Mr. Eaves has created a very compelling character--one who is not easily forgotten. This is a dark book about how one bad choice can lead to others with deadly results and about a time when things weren't as black and white as they once were--there are many shades of gray, and Boone gets caught up in all the ambiguities of the time.
Good job, Mr. Eaves.
January 12, 2015
Schism is set in the early 1970’s. Historically speaking that isn’t so long ago, but for humans, the world of today is certainly different. In 1970 there weren’t even any cell phones. Gasp. What horror. Schism took me back to that long ago time when idealism met disillusionment, and society was faced with drugs, hippies, and changing social mores. The setting for the story was a college campus which I felt was an excellent choice. Young people of the 60’s and early 70’s were leaders in social movements such as civil rights and the war in Vietnam, both of which are mentioned in the story.
The characters interested me too because I’ve known people like them, at least like some of them. I thought I had every character pigeonholed and knew what they were about, but I was wrong. I made a false assumption about the hero too. I didn’t really anticipate the end of the book either. It came out of left field and smacked me because I wasn’t expecting it.
I think you’d like this trip back to 1970. I know I did. 5 out of 5 stars.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews