WORD MUSEUM REVIEW, TRUTHS OF THE HEART
Reviewed by Sally Painter
“Like most authors, I read a lot and it is rare to find an author who can just pull me in as a reader and make me forget all else. G.L. Rockey is one such author. In his latest book, TRUTHS OF THE HEART, I was immediately drawn into his story.
The cast of characters begin with Dr. Rachelle Zannes, gorgeous literature professor, her fiancé, ex football star now sports radio celebrity, Carl Bostich and Rachelle’s new student, every woman’s dream of a sensitive, talented, good sense of humor, intelligent, and oh so sexy man, Seth Trudow. Mix together and you get just the beginnings of what is a very complex and interwoven story that makes the reader think, what if.
What if Rachelle had met Seth before she’d married Carl? What if Seth had never met his crazy (and that is literally insane), gal pal artist, Laura Toth? What if Carl had never been injured and had continued to play football? The pinpoints of choices and life’s circumstances that could have taken these people down different paths is infinite.
Is there such a thing as destiny? Would different choices have made for different end results? Or were these people destined to play out their parts regardless of their choices, right or wrong? TRUTHS OF THE HEART follows these unique (and quite a few quirky) characters as fellow travelers. Each person’s life and choices affects someone else and eventually it all has a domino effect depending on how close one person is to another. Some fall while others merely sway, stagger and then recover.
This reader was left pondering the eternal question, is there such a thing as destiny? Are we pulled along life’s course under the illusion that we are making choices, when the truth is regardless what we choose; it still ends up the same? Clearly, some of Rachelle’s choices simply lead her deeper and deeper down a dark path that she is too blinded by denial to recognize until it’s too late. Her heart longs to abandon her choices, yet, she has bound herself by the simple act of making them. She and those traveling with her are swept away by the eternal plan set in motion by all of their choices. Sometimes not choosing is the biggest choice made.
Warning – This is not a book for the faint hearted. It is a close examination of the two faces most people wear. The one shown to the world and the one revealed in private. Sometimes the private one is better. Many times it is uglier. It soon becomes clear that most of the characters in this book are all headed on a collision course. What remains to be seen is who will survive the crash?
Sexuality is the other common thread running through the book connecting all these characters. Some in obvious direct ways, while others because of the acts done in private away from them. Again, not for the faint of heart. A powerful revelation that most people do not really know the people they work with, attend college with and in some cases, live with. There are those pretending to be sane to the outside world, while in private, their insanity has leaked out disguising itself as an expression of art. And is it merely art imitating life?
It’s not surprising with all the deceit, perversions and lies, that most of the plans go awry and for some murder is the end result. Nothing about this story is simple and the characters who survive do so almost as a rite of passage. They survive the choices of others.
G.L. Rockey is a gifted story teller who leads the reader through the ruins of human lives so often portrayed as perfect and ideal but upon further examination, reveals a collage of failures, disappointments, phobias, love, hopes, and dreams. It is a colorful tapestry of the human condition, reminding us that nothing is as it seems and everyone has many many sides.”
