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Death, Dot & Daisy
A murder and a mystery in a post-pandemic world.
“Somebody once said that acts of great kindness would mark the end of the world. I thought that greed and envy and anger were gone with the old world.”
Kind-hearted Adaeze survives an apocalyptic pandemic to start a new idyllic community in Northern England.
Orphaned Leo grows up with his cruel relations on a Minnesota farm.
Practical Dot stumbles across a body and turns detective.
An ocean divides them, but a secret links them; one that can destroy the perfect world they seek.
“Somebody once said that acts of great kindness would mark the end of the world. I thought that greed and envy and anger were gone with the old world.”
Kind-hearted Adaeze survives an apocalyptic pandemic to start a new idyllic community in Northern England.
Orphaned Leo grows up with his cruel relations on a Minnesota farm.
Practical Dot stumbles across a body and turns detective.
An ocean divides them, but a secret links them; one that can destroy the perfect world they seek.
Kindle Edition
Published November 1, 2020
28 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
John R. Goodman
2 books2 followersJohn R. Goodman is an author who turned to full-time writing after a career spent mostly in IT.
He won the Award for Promising Playwright at Ink Festival 2019.
He has also adapted Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, for the stage.
Death, Dot & Daisy is his first published novel. He is working on another book and another play.
He writes because his family will never let him finish a sentence in normal conversation.
He enjoys acting and directing theatre and wearing hats.
He won the Award for Promising Playwright at Ink Festival 2019.
He has also adapted Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens, for the stage.
Death, Dot & Daisy is his first published novel. He is working on another book and another play.
He writes because his family will never let him finish a sentence in normal conversation.
He enjoys acting and directing theatre and wearing hats.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 14, 2021
Ok. I bought this book on Kindle. I am very interested in the post apocalyptic/ pandemic sort of book and this looked right up my alley.
It starts with interesting writing, and I couldn’t fault the way it examined what life would be like without electricity, etc. Imaginative, well considered. The murder mystery element - ideal!
However as it went along I found it a struggle to continue. (I know this book is self published and I am not trying to tear it apart as the ideas inside are interesting.)
(Spoilers from here on in!)
What’s wrong with it?
- the dialogue is clunky. I felt like I was in a computer game ; every time we meet someone, they say, ‘hello! My name is... are you new here?’ etc. Either that or they attack the protagonists in particularly racist/violent ways. There isn’t much nuance to the ‘extras’. Long chunks of exposition, especially at the end from Tim, make slow reading.
- the story is very convoluted and I couldn’t suspend my disbelief. The main example of this being the fact that Judd - a stupid, racist, drunkard without a horse or a map or any knowledge of where Leo would be in America let alone England - could track Leo literally across the world and arrive in Oswych on the exact same night that Leo does, to kill Leo’s mother. The characters actions often have no strong motive.
The way the years jump back and forth is a little jarring but I didn’t find that too difficult once the story started coming together.
And I have to end with a huge spoiler and a massive clanging note. The final chapter. What is the reasoning behind Crow being Dot’s mother? If it’s a reference to the fact that she had a copy of ‘The Wizard of Oz’, didn’t that belong to Leo anyway? So was Crow actually Branwyn? That last bit seemed meant to send shivers down your spine but it left me totally baffled! (Also the three times that we hear Crow speak she speaks with different voices - the second time we hear her speak she is much more coherent).
In summary; an interesting and relevant concept, with imagination particularly in the scene setting; but the story itself rather clunky.
It starts with interesting writing, and I couldn’t fault the way it examined what life would be like without electricity, etc. Imaginative, well considered. The murder mystery element - ideal!
However as it went along I found it a struggle to continue. (I know this book is self published and I am not trying to tear it apart as the ideas inside are interesting.)
(Spoilers from here on in!)
What’s wrong with it?
- the dialogue is clunky. I felt like I was in a computer game ; every time we meet someone, they say, ‘hello! My name is... are you new here?’ etc. Either that or they attack the protagonists in particularly racist/violent ways. There isn’t much nuance to the ‘extras’. Long chunks of exposition, especially at the end from Tim, make slow reading.
- the story is very convoluted and I couldn’t suspend my disbelief. The main example of this being the fact that Judd - a stupid, racist, drunkard without a horse or a map or any knowledge of where Leo would be in America let alone England - could track Leo literally across the world and arrive in Oswych on the exact same night that Leo does, to kill Leo’s mother. The characters actions often have no strong motive.
The way the years jump back and forth is a little jarring but I didn’t find that too difficult once the story started coming together.
And I have to end with a huge spoiler and a massive clanging note. The final chapter. What is the reasoning behind Crow being Dot’s mother? If it’s a reference to the fact that she had a copy of ‘The Wizard of Oz’, didn’t that belong to Leo anyway? So was Crow actually Branwyn? That last bit seemed meant to send shivers down your spine but it left me totally baffled! (Also the three times that we hear Crow speak she speaks with different voices - the second time we hear her speak she is much more coherent).
In summary; an interesting and relevant concept, with imagination particularly in the scene setting; but the story itself rather clunky.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 24, 2020
Fantastic
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews