The Bastard

by Iimani David

The Bastard depicts the deceit, treachery, and vice that festered beneath the surface of a seemingly peaceful middle-American town, then ripened and culminated in an explosive, passionate, and murderous sequence of events. At the heart of this saga are Tommy Gardings and his best friend, Sammy, two ten-year-old boys living in 1920 Harriston, Indiana. The two boys struggle with different forms of abuse in their lives - Tommy with sexual abuse at the hands of his teacher and Sammy with physical abuse from his mother. But, when Sammy seizes an opportunity created by the disappearance of Billy Chanston, a popular, well-loved nine-year-old from a neighboring town, to change the awful situation life has created for the two boys, his actions prove catastrophic.

276 pages, Paperback

First published May 22, 2012

About the author

Iimani David is a native of Brooklyn, New York
Facebook: OfficialIimaniDavid

Reviews

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't have the chance to check my email when I actually won this book in first reads and I was very excited when I came home one day and it was in my mailbox. I started reading it right when I opened it. It is definitely a very good story. It's a little short, but the twists are very good. I didn't see the end coming at all, and I'm usually pretty good at figuring out mystery stories. The only thing I didn't like too much (I didn't hate it though either) was the verbiage. I completely understand why the author used this form of writing, it just made it a little difficult to read because your mind is so used to reading words a certain way. That is my only complaint about this book, and it's a very minor one. It is very well written and I highly enjoyed it. Thank you very much Iimani David for your story.

[Patrick Eckhardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

It takes a while to get past the dialect. Believe it or not, immersion into 1920s Southern Indiana speech patterns can be a bit of a chore. But it's an interesting story. It's one you sort of figure out as you read, long before the characters do, but the fact that they can't see it keeps the tension up throughout.

Worth reading? Yes. Will I ever revisit it? Probably not. But the same can be said for most books. So it goes.

[NYLSpublishing]

Sorry, we are not about to review (or rate) books we've published. We refused to be laughed at.