Strange But True [Hardcover]

Melissa Moody has been grieving for five years, ever since a prom night accident in Radnor, Pennsylvania, killed Ronnie Chase, the only person she has ever loved. Scarred both physically and emotionally, Melissa lives alone, unable to work. Charlene Chase, Ronnie's mother, is also devastated by the accident, which contributed to her divorce, the loss of her job, and her binge eating. Though her older son Philip is recuperating at home in Radnor after a strange accident in which he fell from a fire escape in New York, Charlene has little interest in him, herself, or anything else. Suddenly, Charlene and Philip receive a middle-of-the-night phone call from Melissa Moody, whom neither of them has seen in five years. At two a.m., she arrives, nine months pregnant, announcing to Charlene and Philip that she is carrying Ronnie's baby, though Ronnie has been dead for five years.

Alternating between the present and five years in the past, author John Searles establishes the relationship between Ronnie and Melissa, their activities on the night of the prom, and the relationship each has with his/her parents. At the same time, he reveals through specific, homely details, the hopelessness and squalor of Melissa's and Charlene's present lives--their lack of hygiene, their untidy living conditions, and their total disinterest in the present world. Melissa has taped Ronnie's photographs to the dashboard of her trash-filled car and still has her prom corsage in her freezer, while Charlene has made a shrine of Ronnie's room and refuses to let anyone enter it. Philip, the living son, is ignored, though he has been living an equally hopeless life in New York.

As Philip and his mother try to deal with the mystery of Melissa's pregnancy and her insistence that she has had no lovers, the author introduces peripheral characters--Melissa's landlords, her parents, and Charlene's ex-husband--and soon real danger threatens their lives. The symbols, omens, and portents the author inserts into the narrative (especially the crows) are obviously used to increase tension and to highlight private secrets, revelations, and bizarre plot twists. The dramatic changes made by some characters, especially Charlene, strain credulity, since they come suddenly and with little preamble, but they are necessary to resolve the Gothic plot. Some readers may be put off by the intrusive personal detail, some of which seems unnecessary, and by the amount of coincidence, but, overall, this is a good summer read--a suspenseful popular novel which builds to a blockbuster conclusion. Mary Whipple

The description of STRANGE BUT TRUE makes it sound like a supernatural novel. Five years after a young man dies, his prom date arrives at his family's house to tell his family that she is pregnant with his child. But this is a novel of the real world and the mystery is resolved through one of those major plot twists that forces one to re-evaluate everything that came before it. This plot twist is merely the largest of the loose ends that John Searles resolves and ties together to weave an interesting story well worth the read.

In addition to the excellent job of tying all the details together, Searles also succeeds in creating the appropriate feel for this book. The dead boy's presence is felt throughout the book through the pull he exerts on the living, from his parents' separation, to his brother's unresolved feelings of failure and alienation, to the pregnant girl's inability to let go of the past. STRANGE BUT TRUE is actually quite a downer at times, though the feel is put to good use.

There are a couple of weak points. Searles' writing is a touch too technical at times. Also, the events of the book take place within only a couple of days. This detracts from the book's believability as the relationships between the characters change and develop far more quickly than is realistic. This is particularly problematic as the characters themselves are fairly strong individually thereby making the artificiality of their changing relations that much more acute.

The weak points of STRANGE BUT TRUE, however, do not come close to outweighing the strong ones. Based on this book, I look forward to reading the author's previous book. I guess that is the ultimate test and it is one that Searles passes.

I'm way, way up on a biblio high. Just finished John Searles' "Strange But True" which is part mystery, part teen-age romance turned tragic, part marriage mistakes and family politics, part rite of passage, part thriller, part tragey and wrecked people, part redemption and utterly fine reading not to mention all wonderful.

Searles' earlier novel, his first, "Boy Still Missing," is a good read but this, his second, novel is entirely engrossing and that rare combination of writing + story + plot = finest kind. This book makes a great gift for just about everyone you know except, perhaps, Lutheran ministers.

One complaint only; OK, it's not really a complaint but a reality moment: the book is a bit stern (and was meant to be), although that comes naturally with the story, the telling and the language. It's not a heavy/drowning book but it is a book that examines cause and effect with a strict minuteness that is superb. Meanwhile, thank goodness for the remarkable Donnelly Fiume and his variously scaled menagerie in East Village -- they lighten and enhance the reader's load.

Addendum: poets and poetry lovers may find a special affinity for this novel. And, anyone who is an Anne Sexton fan.

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