Review by ReyvrexQuestor Reyes -- The Spirit of Want

[ReyvrexQuestor Reyes]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Spirit of Want" by William H. Coles.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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In a democratic constitution, such as that of the United States of America, every individual is guaranteed the right to the pursuit of happiness. Lucy as a lawyer knew this, and she did her utmost to exercise this right. What she didn’t find at home she looked for elsewhere, albeit with grave consequences. Her life, along with the lives of the people interacting with her’s, formed the main plot of this intriguing novel, The Spirit of Want by William H. Coles.

It all started at a party. Lucy and a younger sister, Elizabeth, were with their mother, Agnes, and their father, AJ MacMiel, an eye surgeon hosting a party for the donors of the Eye Institute. Luke Osbourne, an eye surgeon close to Lucy’s father was among the guest, though unbeknownst to Lucy, fate had arranged a freak adventure for the two of them that night that led them to the altar later on.

But work has surprises awaiting the newlyweds. In Luke’s workplace, AJ MacMiel — now Luke’s father-in-law — had to be investigated due to a lawsuit of malpractice filed by a client. Luke was in a quandary to serve justice in the committee he headed, being the chief of the service, for aside from AJ being family, he looks up to AJ as his mentor. As for Lucy, being the lead defense lawyer for a well-known evangelist accused of a sex crime, her time for family was almost non-existent. As a consequence, Lucy’s child, Jennifer, had grown mostly with outside help, or with just Luke, Elizabeth, and Agnes, while Lucy was glaringly absent. How will things work out for Lucy and the family?

Again, William H. Coles demonstrated his adeptness at contriving a compelling drama that touched on the social, medical, theological, and legal aspects of the lives of his characters. Especially in the medical field, his immense knowledge regarding the technical procedures and ethical standards imbued his writings with deeper insights. But that is not to say that he was wanting in the other fields, rather, that was just to imply that he was overwhelmingly versed medically. Then add to that his literary prowess in committing these experiences into writing, and the result was an enthralling novel steeped in reality.

Interestingly, Coles has presented us with a classic scenario in the operating room that challenged the expertise and ethics of the surgeon. Naturally, a surgeon was expected not to commit any error, not when the life of the patient lies in his hands. But surgeons do commit mistakes — as AJ MacMiel did in the novel. He inadvertently operated on the good eye instead of on the deceased one. Then out of hubris, he scheduled an untimely operation on the intended eye, ignoring protocol and the truth that he will be committing another mistake. The result was blindness for both eyes of the patient. This seems to emphasize the need for putting a decent effort into the job, which opportunely applies also to this other instance — in the legal profession. When Lucy lost the case she was defending, it became evident that she failed to put in the decent action required during the litigation. Lucy must have slept on the job — and worst — with the client.

Undeniably, the characters were well developed, and the scenes remarkably realistic. The action was well distributed throughout the narrative that you would never feel like hitting the doldrums at any time during the reading. Although adult content had popped up in certain scenes, most were only mildly descriptive. At any rate, adult readers of fiction would enjoy immensely the intriguing storyline, so I recommend this to them. The few errors I found were not too distracting, whereupon I inferred that considerable editing had really been done, reason enough that have kept these flaws to a minimum. A rating of 4 out of 4 stars was very justified.

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The Spirit of Want
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