Blind Consent

by Michael W. Davis

The town of Tanglewood Falls offers breath-taking views, yet the serendipity is misleading. The impoverished people and their forgotten community have been unwittingly exploited. Their act of trust and blind consent alter their existence and the secret remains buried, until Ryan returns to explore his heritage. For twenty years, he’s been haunted by confusing images and recurring dreams. He’s driven to understand their meaning, to obtain answers to his lost memories. Ryan’s search for truth collides with the folklore of the simple people and the belief that their beautiful Annie is blessed. Together, they unravel the mystery, but become targets of those responsible for what has happened to the town. As the truth is exposed, Ryan must grapple with his own reality; the fact that his past, his nightmares, and Annie’s secret, is entangled in the desperate act of one lonely man.

300 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2009

Reviews

[Kelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Review
Book Title: Blind Consent
Book Author: Michael W. Davis
Date of Publication: May 2014
Number of Pages: 328

Synopsis:
After tragically losing his wife, April, Ryan Matthews can’t seem to pick up the pieces. After a year of nightmares and self-imposed isolation, he decides to move back to Tanglewood, VA to be with his mom and daughter. From the moment he arrived he noticed something was out of the ordinary with the forgotten town, population 277. With his childhood friend, Annie, by his side, they will solve the mystery and rid Ryan of his nightmares forever.

Key Points/Conflict:
Ryan and April have the perfect marriage, filled with love and a baby on the way. When April dies during childbirth, everything Ryan knows and loves is lost. For a year he goes through life’s motions, thinking he will never recover from his loss. The nightmares from his life have taken over his dreams and he realizes he can no longer stay in their apartment, or the city, they called home. To move on with his life, he decides to move in with his mom, Martha, and his one-year old daughter, Emma.

Tanglewood, VA has a diminishing population currently at 277 people. Approximately 30 years prior, the town had a flourishing livestock and crafts industry that abruptly disappeared, leaving the people and the town in utter poverty. Ryan’s family moved away when he was seven and his memories of that time are hazy or non-existent. When he arrives he senses something is wrong with the people. Even though the number of deaths has waned to one every five years, the injuries and resulting deformities are above the national average.

When Ryan meets Annie, his world his turned upside down. Her familiarity both intrigues and terrifies him. He is not ready to let go of April or her memory. The more time they spend together, the more memories return—some he is ready for, some he wants to stay buried.
As Ryan digs for answers about the town’s strange history, he knowingly pokes a hornet’s nest. The closer he gets to the truth, the more nervous the villains become and they will stop at nothing to end his query.

Ryan and Annie must trust each other and join together to fight for the town, the people, and to keep certain secrets from coming to light. In a figurative battle of good vs evil, Judgement Day has arrived.

Analysis/Evaluation:
Blind Consent was far from what was expected. At times the descriptions were over the top and repetitive but, it did not keep the reader from losing interest in the storyline. Although, it took until 30% into the book to find out that Ryan’s daughter survived the birthing process and has lived with his mother.

Continuity throughout the novel was beautiful. There were no unexplained time lapses, no character mistakes, and everything received a full explanation. This reader feels like Nancy’s character should be removed from the story. The way she was presented in the beginning, it seemed as if she was a key element of the plot, then suddenly, she was written off. Her affection for Ryan, despite being April’s “best friend” was a turn off.

Another aspect of the novel that may avert certain readers is the constant reference to religion. The genre for this novel really should fall into the Christian Fiction realm, even though there are hints of the science fiction and mildly-explicit romance. At times it felt a bit “preachy” but that was necessary to the storyline.

The science presented throughout the story was solid but the terminology was a bit outdated. When Dr. Cooper was explaining stem cells to Ryan, the “immoral” treatment he developed sounds very much like the process to produce induced pluripotent stem cells; which are adult stem cells that are reprogrammed to be embryonic-like through gene (virus) therapy. However, they cannot produce the same results as Dr. Coopers!

The story moved a bit slow due to the superfluous storylines and descriptions but, this reader still could not put it down. The finality was in chapter 45 and the additional chapters did not add any new or relevant information. The final two chapters should have been done as an epilogue instead of a continuation of the story.

[Elouise Ryder · Rating 1 out of 5]

I finished this book 09/06/13.
Blind Consent had an intriguing premise nestled tantalizingly deep into the verbiage and angst of Mr. Davis’s writing. His peculiar style of referring frequently to the current characters in a scene as “the man (or woman) in the _______” (fill in an item of dress or a personal characteristic), rather than by name gave me the impression that he was trying to keep the reader wondering who was speaking or who was being referred to. Or was this supposed to be the mystery or suspense that allowed this book to be listed as a part of that genre? He also appeared to be trying to find new and different, even arcane, ways of saying the simplest of phrases.

His dialogue and narrative passages often deteriorated into speeches or sermons, both pedantic and judgmental. I like my authors to philosophize, to delve into the who, what, why of life, but I don’t like being preached to. In my view, proselytizing has no place in a work of fiction.

As you might have guessed, this book was not my cup of tea. I give it 1 star.