Official Review: Visiting Uncle John by Frank Waltmire
Posted: 14 Jul 2020, 16:40
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Visiting Uncle John" by Frank Waltmire.]
Eli Parker’s uncle, John, called him and requested they meet for dinner at a restaurant, saying there was something he should be informed about. When Eli got there, he was stopped by the police—his uncle had shot a man named Garret Brooks. People in the restaurant had witnessed the incident and said Garret had pulled a gun on John and was yelling, waving it around wildly, and pointing it at him. After he put the gun back in his pocket, John shot and killed him.
John possessed a trucking business, and Garret occasionally drove his truck in the past. Several years earlier while out on a job, he was pulled over for speeding and driving intoxicated, and cocaine was discovered in the vehicle. To get out of a prison sentence, Garret gave John up, sending him to prison for a couple of years.
After John was imprisoned for shooting Garret, Eli started visiting him, hoping to find out what his uncle had wanted to discuss. However, John was reluctant to share the information right away. While talking with him over time, more and more information was revealed, and Eli soon discovered there were shocking secrets in the family.
Visiting Uncle John by Frank Waltmire is mostly a character-driven mystery that deals with love, family relations, and family secrets. It is narrated from the first-person perspective, mostly from Eli’s point of view but occasionally from others’ viewpoints. The descriptive prose is easy to understand with believable dialogues. It is 278 pages long and is broken down into 28 chapters, each with a heading and the name of the character who is narrating. This makes it easy to keep track of whom the chapter is about. As John gradually reveals bits of his past and other information emerges, the pieces start coming together and climaxes in a surprise ending.
The characters are well developed and are my favorite aspect of the novel. Their personalities are revealed slowly as the tale progresses. Eli is a likable young man who is still trying to figure out what his purpose in life is. He was recently a guitarist in a band, touring the United States. However, it fell apart and he returned home, unsure of what to do with himself. Although Eli has a wild side (arrested for marijuana possession at 19), he treats everyone with respect. Nothing was described from John’s perspective, but we gradually grow to care for him because of his actions and others’ comments about him. Being an ex-Vietnam veteran with a restless side, he doesn’t always abide by the law, as evidenced by getting caught shipping the cocaine. Nonetheless, he also possesses a loving and loyal side, as is shown by his family’s love and respect for him. Additionally, he is kind and thoughtful toward others. The antagonist, Garret, is self-centered, easy to anger, and violent. It is easy to despise him as the story progresses.
Not everything was great, however. I encountered too many punctuation, grammatical, and formatting problems in the book. An example is, “It’s like he get’s what their all about,” which should have been written, “It’s like he gets what they’re all about.” It could use a professional editor. This was the only thing I disliked about the story.
I thoroughly enjoyed Visiting Uncle John and found myself anticipating the next revelation of information throughout the book. Subsequently, it achieves a rating of 3 out of 4 stars; one star was taken away because of the errors. Readers who like reading character-driven mysteries would appreciate this book. Some profanities are seen as well as a few sex scenes that were not very explicit. Subsequently, it is unsuitable for children or sensitive readers. If you prefer action-packed novels, you might want to look elsewhere.
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Visiting Uncle John
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Eli Parker’s uncle, John, called him and requested they meet for dinner at a restaurant, saying there was something he should be informed about. When Eli got there, he was stopped by the police—his uncle had shot a man named Garret Brooks. People in the restaurant had witnessed the incident and said Garret had pulled a gun on John and was yelling, waving it around wildly, and pointing it at him. After he put the gun back in his pocket, John shot and killed him.
John possessed a trucking business, and Garret occasionally drove his truck in the past. Several years earlier while out on a job, he was pulled over for speeding and driving intoxicated, and cocaine was discovered in the vehicle. To get out of a prison sentence, Garret gave John up, sending him to prison for a couple of years.
After John was imprisoned for shooting Garret, Eli started visiting him, hoping to find out what his uncle had wanted to discuss. However, John was reluctant to share the information right away. While talking with him over time, more and more information was revealed, and Eli soon discovered there were shocking secrets in the family.
Visiting Uncle John by Frank Waltmire is mostly a character-driven mystery that deals with love, family relations, and family secrets. It is narrated from the first-person perspective, mostly from Eli’s point of view but occasionally from others’ viewpoints. The descriptive prose is easy to understand with believable dialogues. It is 278 pages long and is broken down into 28 chapters, each with a heading and the name of the character who is narrating. This makes it easy to keep track of whom the chapter is about. As John gradually reveals bits of his past and other information emerges, the pieces start coming together and climaxes in a surprise ending.
The characters are well developed and are my favorite aspect of the novel. Their personalities are revealed slowly as the tale progresses. Eli is a likable young man who is still trying to figure out what his purpose in life is. He was recently a guitarist in a band, touring the United States. However, it fell apart and he returned home, unsure of what to do with himself. Although Eli has a wild side (arrested for marijuana possession at 19), he treats everyone with respect. Nothing was described from John’s perspective, but we gradually grow to care for him because of his actions and others’ comments about him. Being an ex-Vietnam veteran with a restless side, he doesn’t always abide by the law, as evidenced by getting caught shipping the cocaine. Nonetheless, he also possesses a loving and loyal side, as is shown by his family’s love and respect for him. Additionally, he is kind and thoughtful toward others. The antagonist, Garret, is self-centered, easy to anger, and violent. It is easy to despise him as the story progresses.
Not everything was great, however. I encountered too many punctuation, grammatical, and formatting problems in the book. An example is, “It’s like he get’s what their all about,” which should have been written, “It’s like he gets what they’re all about.” It could use a professional editor. This was the only thing I disliked about the story.
I thoroughly enjoyed Visiting Uncle John and found myself anticipating the next revelation of information throughout the book. Subsequently, it achieves a rating of 3 out of 4 stars; one star was taken away because of the errors. Readers who like reading character-driven mysteries would appreciate this book. Some profanities are seen as well as a few sex scenes that were not very explicit. Subsequently, it is unsuitable for children or sensitive readers. If you prefer action-packed novels, you might want to look elsewhere.
******
Visiting Uncle John
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
I know what you mean! I hope you get a chance to read it!