The Cool Gray

by Scott Nelson

69 nine year old Margret Louise Allan fully intended to die sitting at her desk doing what she loved to do, and that was to counsel the women of Avington Prison back into society. After thirty three years at the same job she was still at the top of her game, and age had not yet caught up to her. So imagine her surprise when she received a letter from the state of Indiana informing her that she would be officially retired on her seventieth birthday. A lifetime of delving into the human mind had done nothing to prepare her for her own mental breakdown. Having never planned for retirement, Marge sets out on a mission to get herself thrown into prison, she had no idea that a person could be so bad at being bad. One hilarious debacle after another begins to wear her down, and slowly chip away at her already damaged psyche. The only thing holding her together is her friendship with Warden Tara Steward, and the occasional revelation that she had actually helped quite a few women throughout her career. Marge's crazy journey takes her on a roller coaster ride of laughter, and tears, and a hangover. Throughout it all she learns something that she would not have learned sitting behind her desk. She knew nothing about life and how to actually live one. That was something that she started doing after the the letter came.

645 pages, Paperback

Published November 29, 2017

Reviews

[Suzanne J Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing and Insightful

Scott has the gift of good dialogue, rare for a first novel. He draws his character's clearly, and allows us a vision of their moral makeup. Scott's humor is almost slapstick at times, laugh-out-loud funny. I liked his ability to pull us into his second novel with the bodies in the round-top refrigerator. Maybe we will see Marge again.