Fairy Tale by AK Nevermore, The Perfect Bitch (The Perfect Fate Book 3) by Tom Kane, Our Own Authors by Brian Baleno

Fairy Tale by AK Nevermore 

 AK Nevermore’s Fairy Tale is a suspenseful enchanting tale that gives us a fairy tale in a bleak postmodern urban setting.

Charlie Peel is having a rough time since she has been dumped and lost her job. She is not interested in the claims from the mysterious Nikodem “Nikos” Wisniewski who believes that she fits his grandmother's psychic visions of a wila, or a fairy. Nikos abducts Charlie and entices her to be his fiancee despite their growing attachment towards each other and her curiosity wondering whether his claims of her being a fairy are true.

This short novel favors dark energy and atmosphere over fantastic moments. It creates a strange but effective amalgam of crime thriller and dark fantasy.

The book starts out gritty and harsh like a typical dark urban contemporary thriller featuring two characters at their most frustrated and vulnerable. Charlie is feeling disenchanted by her lost job and break up. She is a woman ready to explode. Nikos tries to do his assignment and cover his tracks. He is aware of his family’s powerful legacy breathing down on him and that he has to live up to their expectations.

Nikos’ family’s control over his actions and Charlie’s fierce despair foreshadow the eventual violence. In fact when Nikos takes Charlie, it reads like a psychological thriller about a stalker or serial killer taking his victim to a remote location. His plan of her posing as his fiancee while Charlie cowers because he has the decapitated head of his previous hunting assignment has a dark comic edge to it. 

The fantasy aspects begin when Nikos recognizes Charlie’s fairy lineage through psychic impressions. They are somewhat subdued since we don’t actually see Charlie use magic or even fully believe that she is a fairy. She just knows that she’s in a Gothic situation surrounded by a potentially dangerous family with unspoken powers, both natural and supernatural. She knows that she has to play their game for now to survive.

But within Charlie lies the unspoken possibility that if she is a wila, then the Wisniewskis are permitting someone made of potent and dangerous magic, a dour outlook on life, and anger at the world including at the man and family holding her against her will into their lives. They could be turning her into the very demon that they are afraid of.

The first story creates suspense by atmosphere. The second could potentially destroy that atmosphere when Charlie discovers the powers that have been lurking inside her and takes it out on her treacherous captors and the desolate world surrounding her. 

The Perfect Bitch (The Perfect Fate Book 3) by Tom Kane

Tom Kane’s book, The Perfect Bitch is a Gothic Historical Paranormal Horror about a movie star whose obsession with fame, youth, and beauty becomes a horror.

Lovella Benjamin is a movie star from the 1930’s-40’s known for her glamor and difficult reputation, both of which earn her the moniker “The Perfect Bitch.” As she ages, she is anxious about her fading career and rivals. Her ambition reached the attention of a stranger, David Garland who has an enticing offer for her.

This book combines early Gothic works like Faust and The Picture of Dorian Gray with the remote allure of Old Hollywood. While the horror elements are eerie, the majority of the book is a character study of Lovella. Her personality including arrogance, fears, and insecurities is fully displayed.

When we first meet Lovella, she is 17 and already aware of how attractive she is and how she can control besotted men with just a look and a hair flip. However, what they don’t realize is that Bella is no ingenue. She is cunning, brilliant, and ruthless. It is quickly shown in the first pages when she turns the casting couch on its head in front of an associate producer. She reveals that she can not only play the Hollywood Shuffle but succeed at it too.

Lovella is a perfect actress because she is willing to play the part on and off the screen. She subjects herself to painful treatments, excessive beauty care regiments, diets, diction lessons, and especially a fake biographical profile to hide who she really is. It’s routine for all actresses but for an actress who is already receptive to deceit and manipulation, it confirms that she’s in the right place. Like other notorious bad girls in the past like Vanity Fair’s Becky Sharp, she doesn’t defy the society around her, she embodies the society around her. She is the worst qualities of Hollywood wrapped up in human form.

Lovella’s complicated journey is probably why the book focuses more on her than the creepy paranormal stuff that happens to her. She is an eerie forceful presence of her own that can challenge any demon, sorcerer, or otherworldly being. She blackmails a former associate when he wants to destroy evidence implicating her. She steals close ups and spotlights from a rival. She starts a whispering campaign against an actor that she is attracted to when told that his presence is interfering with her popularity. She schemes to end the career of a young upstart. She uses a romance for publicity then strings her lover along for years afterwards. 

Lovella’s dominance has an almost supernatural aura on its own that goes beyond earthly means. She has an almost clairvoyant sense and potent energy that knows when and how to wound an adversary while keeping her career, beauty, and fame intact. She herself is sometimes the demonic presence in her book. 

When supernatural events start to happen. It’s not surprising. Instead it’s inevitable. Lovella is not so much being drawn in by circumstances that she can’t explain and is frightened of but welcomed by a presence that understands her and thinks of her as one of their own. The dark twisted otherworldly happenings are reflections of her own dark, twisted, and human soul. 

Our Own Authors by Brian Baleno 

Brian Baleno specializes in writing about people's internal and emotional struggles either in a confined or open setting. The first book that I read by him, Barside Manner is set in a neighborhood bar in Pittsburgh and deals with the internal conflicts of the bartender and customers.His recent work, Our Own Authors might have a wider and more glamorous setting but it isn't free of emotionally conflicted characters. 

In it, Josh is a location scout for movies. On the set of his latest project, a spy romance, he deals with various filming difficulties and his own feelings about being away from his wife and children. 

This is a fun slice of life short novel that strips away the glamor of filmmaking to focus on the tedium and minutiae of working on a movie set. It’s a lot of standing around, coping with script or location changes, adapting to the weather or local needs, arguing with volatile cast and crew, moving around, and being away from home for long stretches of weeks or even months to create something that you hope will resonate with audiences.

 Baleno treats movie making as a job like any other with positive and negative aspects. The only difference is that the results have to be seen and evaluated by a paying and hopefully appreciative public.

On this particular set, Josh has to arrange the exterior shots in Istanbul and Paris by capturing the beautiful locations but maintaining control of the filming area for the cast and crew. He also has to manage the average public that are walking by and going about their daily lives while art is being made right in front of them. 

This job sometimes takes a keen eye for detail, understanding of the local culture and values, finding the best places for atmosphere and lighting, and having the patience to manage so many people, personalities, and schedules. 

Josh also has to deal with the complications involving various personal lives of the people that he works with. Cyrus and Chloe, the lead actor and actress respectively, are having a romance that they want to keep private from the public so Josh is elected as their official secret keeper. 

Josh also takes the time to have interesting conversations with some long time colleagues, particularly the director Oliver over various discussions such as AI’s presence, marriage, children, and how long they can keep up this frantic pace that the entertainment industry craves. These moments make these characters real as they talk about their lives of living in the spotlight and surrounded by enormous pressure.

Their lives are contrasted with the story that the film crew are selling. Throughout the book, the reader is treated to various scenes from the script. It is an espionage romance between Julia and Anar, two operatives from different countries and worlds that can’t deny their attraction to one another. 

The script’s somewhat hokey dialogue, frequent betrayals, and elaborate conflicts are meant to satirize the finished products that Hollywood creates that are as far away and remote from the people working on them as they are from the people watching them.

Along with satire, Our Own Authors has a lot of heart. Many of the most touching moments are when Josh’s thoughts turn to his wife, Lexi and his kids, James and Chris. Thankfully, this is not a story packed with scandal and infidelity but instead with longing and separation. 

Josh misses the milestones with his family and thinks often of them. He is also feeling his age and considers whether he should change careers before he misses everything at home.

 It is nice to read a story about a happily married man who misses his family so much that he wouldn’t dream of stepping out on them and working in entertainment no less. Granted such conflicts keep such books interesting, but there can also be something meaningful found in quiet conflicts. The conflicts of deciding between work and family. Of deciding between the fast paced life that one is used to and the slower one that is longed for but not always able to be achieved. 

Even when one is in the profession of creating dreams and illusions for other people, the cast and crew often furnish their own dreams and aspirations away from the set.

New Book Alert: Hell Spring by Isaac Thorne; Confined and Claustrophobic Horror Involving An Unnaturally Large Flood, A Soul Devouring Demon, and Some Guilt Stricken Souls

 

New Book Alert: Hell Spring by Isaac Thorne; Confined and Claustrophobic Horror Involving An Unnaturally Large Flood, A Soul Devouring Demon, and Some Guilt Stricken Souls

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Last year, I reviewed The Cabin Sessions by Isobel Blackthorn which depicted a small group of people who harbored secret personal guilt as they suffered through a night in which one of their group was predicted to die. I mused about how the group seemed stuck in this bar/nightclub. I theorized that they couldn't leave and were forced to stay because of outside forces. That wasn't the case in that book but it certainly is in Isaac Thorne's Hell Spring.

Hell Spring also has a similar premise of a small group of people all with their dark personal stories stuck in one location during a natural disaster. But this time, the already claustrophobic environment is made even more terrifying because of a sinister supernatural creature who feeds off their guilt and sins.

The opening seems almost Lovecraftian in its execution. A demon lives a parasitic existence on a larger gigantic demon. Other souls and demons also live on the giant, (Satan? The book doesn't really say what the giant is, leaving its identity and actual form ambiguous.) but have no sentinence or knowledge of their existence. The female demon does. In fact, she gets reborn and each time remembers who she is and where she is, almost as a sadistic torture. However, since she has sentinence, she can plot her escape and finally she manages it. 

The female demon escapes into Hollow Creek, Tennessee in 1955. She has to take a form that the humans are comfortable with, so she uses a calendar of a pre-fame Marilyn Monroe for her new look. This makes the second time this year after Lee Matthew Goldberg's Immoral Origins in which a character assumes the form of Monroe to commit villainous deeds. Perhaps, underneath that buxom figure, girlish voice, and sultry comedic style lies a dark soul. That was certainly true for Monroe herself who lived a very public troubled life and died of a barbiturate overdose, possibly suicide, in 1962. So despite her beauty and free spirited personality, Monroe produced trouble for herself, what's to stop one who looks like her from producing trouble for others. She is the unattainable beauty that like a siren that could lure one to possess her. In this case, could lure one to their death and eternal suffering.

Marilyn The Demon(we'll call the demon, Marilyn, for convenience's sake.) hungers for souls to devour, humans who are suffering internally from fear of sin and punishment. She finds them inside Beard's General Store in the form of various humans who have their guilty secrets.

The humans include:

Eli Wynn-a young farmhand. He is an orphan so is under the care of a God-fearing farming couple, the Blalocks, for whom he also works. He is constantly worried when he does things like swearing, drinking alcohol, and especially masturbating. 

Mark MacDonald-pastor of the Hollow Creek Nazarene Church. He is concerned about low attendance and his own dwindling finances. He adds a little more of the church funds into his own pocket and takes money from the general store.

Donna Gilliam-a wife and mother suffering from an abusive marriage. She silences the rants and beatings from her husband, Ted, by killing him. She takes her infant son, Theo, and plans to leave town.

Peter Mayberry-church pianist and closeted gay man. When he was young, his mother resorted to disturbing violent means to curb his sexual tendencies. The memories traumatize him even as an adult. Even though he is involved with Samuel, an African American man, Peter is still filled with guilt over the relationship.

Kathy and Jerry Beard-The mother and son who run the general store where the others gather during a large storm that quickly changes into an immense flood. The arrival of the others and the strange happenings put a strain on the already disagreeing mother and son's relationship to the point of completely fracturing.

What is particularly compelling is how Marilyn controls her human victims before she eats them. Through these people, Marilyn gets into their heads and influences their thoughts. This fills them with guilt and remorse, making them ready for her feeding. The humans are stuck inside a general store with a rapidly growing flood outside and a hungry demon in the form of a sexy movie star inside.

Marilyn transforms herself into whatever form and personality to entice, lure, or shame the humans. They take her inside the store because she assumes the form of a shivering, frightened, terrified victim, so they feel sorry for her.

She becomes a sexy temptress to seduce the men particularly Peter. 

Since he believes that he had sex with a woman and because it's the repressive 1950's when homosexuality is illegal and he had been shamed for it, Peter believes that Marilyn "cured" him. So he becomes the demon's sidekick, by sharing her consciousness and manipulating the others into thinking about their own sins. Peter gets so far gone in his relationship with Marilyn that he begins to think of her as God at first. 

Marilyn also uses other tricks in her arsenal to feed on her victims, such as using her sexy form to entice Eli to masturbate then turning into Mrs. Blalock to embarrass him for doing so. She also takes other forms and she and Peter keep whispering guilt inside the victim's brains, getting them to continuously think about their deeds.

 As the characters feel shame and guilt for the things that they did, and Marilyn and Peter keep reminding them, Marilyn eats their souls. At first the victim feels the guilt and blame lifted from them. They feel lighter but then as Marilyn continues to feed on them, they feel intense choking pain. The guilt leaves their bodies, looking like red steam that smells like sulfur. The victim becomes smaller and weaker until there is nothing left.

One of the more nightmarish things that happens is the loss of space and time that occurs inside the general store. No one is sure how long they are there: hours, days, or even years. Day and night aren't shown because rain and floodwaters cover the view of the world outside. With the exception of Peter, no one shows signs of visible advancing age. Even Baby Theo remains in his infancy held and fed by his mother.

Even the Reader is confused by how long Marilyn and her victims are inside. There are chapters taking place outside the store, but because of all that is going on inside, it is uncertain whether the external chapters are in the present, flashbacks, or flash forwards. This absence of time puts the characters and Readers off kilter. It also suggests that Marilyn is alone for an extended period of time with the victims and their guilty feelings and shame. She may have been feeding on them for years, even decades.

Shame. That is actually troubling them and the true secret weapon in Marilyn's assault. Shame and having the fear of sin and God's punishment put into them. They are made to feel guilty and judged by religious standards that look at everything that they do is a sin. Eli is shamed for doing something that biologically people, especially men, do all the time. Jerry and Kathy feel anguish, even though family fights are quite common and are means to let off tension.

 Peter is made to feel guilty for being gay, a sexuality that he was born with and being judged when he is in a loving consentual adult relationship. 

Even Mark and Donna's larger crimes are not looked through the lens, of pure right or wrong, innocence or guilt, the black or white that they are led to believe. Donna is a woman in the 1950's who is unable to divorce an abusive husband. She protects her child and defends herself the only way that she can in a time period with limited resources and means to protect them. 

Mark is a thief absolutely, but the book also explains the reasons behind it. Despite being considered a pillar of the community, he is below the poverty line and has dwindling attendance in his church. He is beginning to wonder if his flock is forgetting about their shepherd. He acts out of thoughtlessness and desperation. To his credit, he is guilty about his actions even before he gets to the store and legitimately becomes the moral center of the group. He is also the first to recognize Marilyn for what she really is.

The shame and guilt that comes with generations of thoughts of religious sin are what fuels Marilyn. That is also what weakens her victims. In their concerns about whether they are worthy of Heaven, instead they create their own Hell.

New Book Alert: Forgive Me by Joy Ellis; Tense and Intricate Short Story About Guilt and Suicide

 New Book Alert: Forgive Me by Joy Ellis; Tense and Intricate Short Story About Guilt and Suicide

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Sometimes guilt can overwhelm people so much that they will do the most self-destructive acts to make the pain go away. Sometimes that guilt can be exacerbated by reminders, news articles that state the crime, anniversaries of the witnesses, including friends and family members. The guilty party will do anything to end that hurt, including murder and suicide.

That is the premise behind Forgive Me, Joy Ellis' engaging, tense, and intricate stand alone short story about the investigation of a man's presumed suicide and the guilt that preceded it.

PCs Yvonne Craig and Jamie Smith are investigating the death of Arthur Sims. He appeared to have committed suicide, but he seemed like a decent enough guy. He was involved in charities and volunteer organizations and was a staunch Catholic. He was described as a decent, calm, helpful guy. So why would he do it? Why would he leave a note that says "Please forgive me?" Forgiveness for what and who had been sending him threatening notes saying that the sender didn't forget something? What was that something and why would it be so traumatic that it would drive Sims to suicide?

Because of the short length and the fact that they are mostly investigating a suicide not a murder for the most part, there aren't any suspense chases and moments where they are trailing potential suspects. Most of the investigation is done primarily through computers and researching newspaper archives. It may be dull to some mystery Readers, but others may like a bit of realism mixed in with their literature. This is how many investigations are conducted these days. Sometimes it's just a matter of lots of research and finding the right article. Rarely are dangerous criminals apprehended in violent confrontations with a heart stopping confession that reveals all. Because of the realism,,the plot is more subdued but still interesting.

Because the short story is all about the investigation, there is not a whole lot in terms of character development except one moment that is best not revealed. This characterization seems to come ot of nowhere but is good in getting the Reader to question the characters' motives, means, and pre-knowledge of the events.

Aside from the revelation, Craig and Smith are a good team for a short story like this. They don't have time to deal with marital conflicts or family squabbles. They are here to investigate and investigate they do to solve not only the reason for Sims' suicide but also a long buried cold case that can no longer wait to be solved. A cold case in which Sims was involved which haunted him for the rest of his life.

Forgive Me is short, but Ellis does a great job capturing this tension of investigating a death and revealing that sometimes, a person can not run away from past guilt fast or far enough.

New Book Alert: The Haunting of Gallagher Hotel by K.T. Rose; An Engaging Haunted Hotel Journey Through Hell And Back

 

New Book Alert: The Haunting of Gallagher Hotel by K.T. Rose; An Engaging Haunted Hotel Journey Through Hell And Back

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: The second dark fantasy horror book that I am reading to scare up the Holidays is The Haunting of Gallagher Hotel by K.T. Rose. It also continues another trend that has been running through the blog this year: a literal trip through Heaven or Hell. This time, it's the latter. 

The Haunting of Gallagher Hotel is an engaging trip through Hell via a haunted hotel which opens up the guest and staff's guilty secrets forcing them to confront those secrets for all eternity.

Like all haunted buildings, the Gallagher Hotel has an interesting backstory to go with the current ghostly occupants. In 1921, hotelier Trudy Mona Lisa Gallagher is condemned to death for arson, destruction of property, conspiracy to commit murder, and murder. Her business connections and illegal dealings helped put the town of Holloway, Michigan on the map and now the town has hypocritically turned against her. Trudy decides to make her disappointment known in a very public and explosive manner. She burns the hotel down and curses the town before succumbing to the executioner's noose.

Over 90 years later, the Gallagher Hotel is under new management. Brenda Scott, modern businesswoman, wants to rebuild the Gallagher and turn it into a haven for ghost hunters and tourist trap for the morbidly curious. She hires a staff and invites a select group of guinea pigs uh I mean VIP guests to experience the place in all of its hellacious glory.

The guests are the usual peculiar bunch you find in these locked room mysteries/horror stories: the war vet with PTSD, the heiress with a naughty past, the flirtatious doctor with broken hearts behind him, and the staff member who mysteriously knows every nook and cranny of this place, even more so than the owner. Everyone of these characters have something to hide that is forced open in the most gruesome and unforgettable ways.

The two protagonists in the book are two helpless individuals sucked into this nightmare. Of course they carry a lot of emotional baggage that the demons and spirits dwelling in The Gallagher don't mind exploiting for their own needs.

Riley is a young woman hired as a server for this event. She is very spiritual despite or because of a troubled past in which her son died as a result of her negligence. Riley has been unable to fully recover from his death but still hopes her belief in God will pull her through.

Chris is a foil for Riley as well as co-protagonist. He comes from a family of professional thieves who want him to accept the invitation solely to clean the place out of whatever valuables he can find. Like Riley, he too has a tragic death behind him, one that has earned him the ire of his very powerful and very dangerous family. (This robbery is meant to be his last chance). Riley and Chris are already haunted tortured people, so they are like catnip to the ghouls that are looking for a few good mortals to torture and mess with.

There are some pretty graphic passages that reveal the characters' guilty secrets in very violent means. One features a doctor being haunted not only by what remains of a patient that died on his table but an obsessive nurse with plenty of sharp medical instruments.

Another features a veteran whose war ghosts come to life literally.

There are some particularly chilling passages involving Riley, Chris, and Brenda but in the name of plot revelations will be unmentioned. However, they are pretty fascinating and clever twists which causes the Reader to rethink the characters and where they really fall in the good vs. evil spectrum. 

The Haunting of Gallagher Hotel is not the type of setting that one would want to check into in real life, but it is certainly one Hell of a vacation.

Banned Books Special: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini; A Moving Novel About Friendship in Time of War and Conflict

Banned Books Special: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini; A Moving Novel About Friendship in Time of War and Conflict

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Spoilers: When we are kids, we are told and believe that everything is going to be okay. We believe that our best friends will be our best friends for life, our families will always be together, and that the bad things that happen in the world that grown-ups talk about on the news won't possibly affect us. We look forward to our favorite games, cartoons, summer vacations and holidays like Christmas with great excitement. As we grow older and are hit with the realities of death, divorce, poverty, war and so on we become more aware how dark life really is and look back on those childhood days with an idyllic nostalgia.




Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner is about that. It is told from the point of view of Amir, an Afghan man who recalls his childhood friendship with wondrous detail and how that friendship changed because of world events and Amir’s own weaknesses.




Amir’s best friend growing up was Hassan, the son of his family's servant. The two grew up in 1970’s Kabul and even though they are separated by class, ethnicity, and religion (Hassan’s family are poor Hazara Shiite Muslims while Amir’s are wealthy Pashtun Sunni Muslims.), the two share some things in common. They both lost their mothers as infants (Amir's died in childbirth and Hassan's walked out on him and his father shortly after he was born.) and their fathers were also childhood friends as well as master and servant. Amir and Hassan share many interests such as American Western films, adventure stories which Amir reads and Hassan listens, and kite flying. Kite flying is a particularly important past time as the two participate in the annual Kite Flying Festival Events in which Amir flies the kite and Hassan runs after it. Hosseini develops his two lead characters really well as he explores their childhood games, interests, and families. Even though there are some conflicts, the two are portrayed with the innocent idealism of childhood. They are ready for fun days, adventure, and dreaming of their future until life and reality hits them in the faces forcing them to mature long before they reach adulthood.




The two families become affected by the Soviet attack on Afghanistan and the constant days of bombs, armies, and fighter planes that fill the Afghan landscape. They are also affected by the increasing racism that Amir’s classmates feel towards other ethnic groups like the Hazara. One classmate, Assef openly admires Hitler’s Final Solution and is fond of taunting and physically bullying Hassan for being from a different ethnic group.

Besides the troubles from the outside world, Amir also recognizes conflict at home. While Hassan swears unconditional loyalty to Amir, Amir feels guilty that he doesn't feel the same. As an adult, he is filled with guilt for all of the times that he teased Hassan for being illiterate or pushed his loyalty by bossing Hassan around. Above all, he feels remorse for his jealousy that his father, Baba treated both Hassan and Amir equally and that he got along with the active practical Hassan better than the introverted literary Amir.




Both the political and the private struggles culminate during the Kite Flying Festival when Hassan is attacked and raped by Assef and his friends. Instead of defending his best friend, Amir ran in fear. Ashamed of his actions, Amir orchestrates the dismissal of Hassan and his father, Ali from Amir's family home and his life.




Even though the two friends are separated, the Soviet-Afghanistan conflict and Hassan's rape followed by Amir’s inaction continue to follow Amir. Even as he and his father flee Afghanistan for America and live a life as impoverished refugees, Hassan continues to haunt Amir like a ghost. Even when Hassan’s not there in body, he’s still there in spirit and in Amir’s consciousness.




Despite the troubles both in his former country and in his mind, Amir begins to settle in America. He rekindles his relationship with Baba as the old man mourns his former life, befriends only other Afghan refugees, and health declines. Amir becomes his caregiver seeing a man who he once thought of as having a high honor code, shriveled into despair. Amir also marries another Afghan immigrant with a troubled romantic past and begins a career as a talented best-selling author.




Just when Amir begins to settle in his new life, he receives a letter from an old friend that forces him to return to Afghanistan. The chapters when Amir returns to Afghanistan are among the most heartbreaking as he sees a country torn apart by war. He travels among destroyed buildings, little vegetation, the Taliban ruling their country with violent and religious dogma, adults with missing limbs and gone mad with grief, and children who have been deprived of their childhoods. Afghanistan becomes like a giant graveyard as Amir recalls his youth which seemed so pleasant at the time and contrasts it to the destroyed country before him.




Amir's return to Afghanistan also gives him a chance to confront his past guilt. He learns the truth of some family secrets involving his father, Amir, and Hassan and also learns of Hassan's current whereabouts. In one suspenseful passage Amir encounters a former enemy turned Taliban leader, and Hassan's young son. This moment and the aftermath when Amir bonds with the boy give Amir a second chance to face his old fears and atone for his past inaction in running when Hassan needed him the most.




The Kite Runner is a moving novel about a friendship that is torn apart by war, deception, and conflict. But ultimately it is about getting beyond that conflict and reconciling with and forgiving others and oneself.