In Flight to Darkness, Brewer introduces readers to Eric Garth, a
Korean war vet and a would-be sculptor who meets Leda a nurse during his time
spent as a patient in a psychiatric hospital in California. Eric has always
been preoccupied with a recurring dream of killing his brother Frank with a sculptor’s
wooden mallet. So before Eric can be released his doctor has to make sure he is
cured of these dreams.
Eric is all too excited to head home to Florida and to the loan
business which Frank is running until he gets back. This business is supposed
to be split between the two brothers when their mother dies. He and Leda plan
to marry but things take a turn when he is accused of a hit and run and then
gets committed to a sanitarium in Alabama. Leda abandons him when he needs her
the most.
However, when he gets a hold of the police, he is then told the
charges are dropped and he is free to go. Only problem, he couldn’t get released
from the sanitarium so he escapes and heads home to Florida. And that’s where
things get murky: Eric finds out Leda is married to Frank, Norma – the girlfriend
he left behind is still in love with him although he is in love with Leda,
Frank is found murdered with a mallet, and Eric is again on the run and
questioning his sanity.
I thoroughly enjoyed this roller coaster ride. The twists were
deliciously fun and I cheered on as Eric found out the truth about his brother
and Leda. Brewer has nailed it again with developing a male protagonist who spirals
out of control because of love.
Two thumbs up! Great read!
Some of my
favorite lines:
I’d been through a war, gone crazy,
been tied up in straight jackets, fallen in love with a woman who walked out on
me the first rough time we had, and I was still hanging onto a dream. That
Norma Dean was still my girl.
And there was
another wild dream, too—the wild one that cropped up that day in Korea all full
of blood and dark damnation. So go on home to the old home where your mother’s
dying and see for sure if you want to kill your brother. See if you’re going to
kill him now. Go ahead, find out…
Rating: 5 Stars
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