Deaf Wish

by Geoff Cook, Nicky Taylor (Editor)

Pretend you’re deaf and seek to listen with your eyes for the silent scream of vengeance your fractured heart denies - ‘Believe me, there is nothing bold or courageous in making the decision to sacrifice everyone and everything you’ve worked for in exchange for a new life thousands of miles away with a woman you hardly know. Don’t kid yourself. All it takes is a heady mix of bravado, false conviction, cowardice and a total lack of conscience. I should know. I did it. Sixteen years have passed and an opportunity comes out of the blue to make amends, to rekindle the bonds of family I once too easily discarded. Or so I hoped. But I was naïve. I thought words could heal. They can’t. All they achieve is to distort the pain of rejection that feeds the prospect of revenge. Nor could I foresee the treacherous path ahead as I stumbled into the bitter secrets of all our pasts. But I can now. My hearing might be shot, my memory failed and I know I should have taken the advice and walked away. Somehow, I couldn’t. My grandson has given me a reason to exist and I need to discover the truth. But some people have different ideas and will go to any lengths to make sure I do not. My name? It’s Gilbert Hart, but call me Gil. Some people know me as Hartless.’ Deaf Wish is a dark, contemporary family drama set in Wales, Northern Portugal and Spain’s Costa de La Luz. Gil is a man seeking reconciliation with the wife and two sons he abandoned sixteen years earlier for a younger woman and a new life in Spain. As he faces the prospect of a reunion with his bitter ex-wife at their younger son’s wedding little does he realise the need for revenge of those he cast aside and the lengths to which they are prepared to go to exact retribution. LOVEREADING VIEW ON DEAF WISH 'Deaf Wish' by Geoff Cook is an intriguing, well-constructed, suspenseful thriller, which has everything from drug dealing, explosion, homosexuality and adultery to blackmail, incest, suicide and murder, culminating in an act of violent revenge. The story is narrated by Gilbert Hart, who, after 16 years, attempts an ill-fated reconciliation with his ex-wife and two sons, when he unexpectedly receives an invitation to a wedding in Portugal. His sons, however, have a dark and sinister ulterior motive for inviting him. The narrative moves seamlessly between multiple locations and dates, as we learn of Gil's affair with the family's Spanish au pair in 1992 and their subsequent move to Spain together. The ruthless and unnatural nature of the family he has become an, at best, tolerated member of, gradually becomes apparent. After a violent end to the relationship in 1996, Gil returns to the UK, where, in 2008, he decides, with expert manipulation from a former family friend, to attend his son, Albert's, marriage ceremony. It isn't long before this scenario also turns bitter, violent and treacherous. The story begins and ends in the present day, when Gil, now completely broken and betrayed by everyone he once cared for, wreaks vengeance on those he believes have got away with their contribution to his mental state and the crimes that caused it. The movement backwards and forwards in time and location has the potential to confuse the reader but the necessarily large cast of characters is so well drawn that we think we know them individually. However, they all guard secrets of a more or less unsavoury nature and only the children are actually what they seem to be. A very enjoyable and stimulating read. Drena Irish, A LoveReading Ambassador LOVEREADING AMBASSADOR

428 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 15, 2019

About the author

Born and educated in London, I trained as an accountant and spent a large part of my working life outside the UK. mainly in Brazil, Spain and Portugal. A vivid imagination, coupled with experience in a wide variety of industrial and commercial ventures in contrasting environments has proved a rich vein in stimulating my lifelong passion to write.
At the turn of the millennium, I made the time to start writing seriously, producing my first novel, Pieces for the Wicked and two three-act plays, Painful Truths and The Last Chapter, as my introduction to the literary world.
Although I do not feel committed to any specific fiction genre, I consider my subsequent novels through 2010 to date broadly fit into the suspense and thriller category.
Inspired by a Latin palindrome, The Sator Square deals with a terrorist plot to kill a member of the Royal family and was published by NGP in both hardback and paperback. It was followed by Deaf Wish, a tale of adultery, deceit, betrayal and murder set, unsurprisingly, in Wales, Portugal and Spain's Costa de la Luz.
My most taxing work to date is The Last Rights, the story of a Holocaust survivor who witnesses the greatest robbery of all time. Moulding the plot around the historical detail of Germany in 1945 and the Nazi escape route to South America required extensive research and I sincerely thank the historians who made my task and the novel possible.
It was perhaps a reflex that the release which followed, Irreconcilable Differences, is a black comedy, dealing with deadly inter-family rivalries.
As I write this bio, my latest novel, Octogen, is about to be released. A dystopian plot, set in 2065, a family in crisis is faced with the terrifying consequences of a project - codename Octogen.
Working in Eastbourne, I travel frequently to the Algarve where I live with my wife, Fatima. Between us, we have four sons and six grandchildren.

For a more detailed look, go to www.geoff-cook.com

Reviews

[Christina · Rating 1 out of 5]

For me, this was one of those books that sounded promising, but once I started reading, I couldn't connect with the author's vision. Unfortunately, I can't recommend this book.