Review by Dominiq Fuller -- McDowell by William H. Coles

[Dominiq Fuller]

[Following is a volunteer review of "McDowell" by William H. Coles.]

---

4 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

A story of drama and life, McDowell by William H. Coles is a thought-provoking book about the life of Hiram McDowell and the hardships he faces, as well as the hardships he imposes on others around him. McDowell begins focusing on McDowell's family and career. Coles does a wonderful job of showing the character of McDowell and shows his priority in his work, and he shows what McDowell does to his peers, often backstabbing to further his career. However, his misdeeds eventually catch up to him, and it sets him up for a struggle to make up for his mistakes.

William H. Coles tells a wonderful story and explores good character development. He writes with an overall plan, setting up characters that McDowell betrayed, and then bringing them back in when they are needed. The characters in McDowell that stay through the whole story do show smooth character Development. With no noticeable mistakes, McDowell is edited well and flows nicely.

Coles also tells his story through multiple perspectives, usually setting up characters as people McDowell has interacted with, and usually hurt in some way. From McDowell's son Billie and other family members to a reporter named Paige who is obsessed with McDowell and plans to make his biography. Paige is one of the characters that I think Coles did a wonderful job in showing character development. He sets up relationships between characters and slowly shows the change as characters understand things that they did not realize before, and sometimes even change their opinions as they uncover new ideas.

However, I feel that occasionally the perspectives are inconsistent in that usually at the start of a new chapter, Coles will specify in bold whose perspective it is. In some chapters that bold is not present. Coles does carry those chapters differently, however, so I believe it's on purpose and Coles has a unique way of writing. Because this character switching style does tell the story of McDowell extremely well. And this alone is not enough to lower what I think this book deserves.

William H. Coles tells a wonderful story in which drama and struggle take place. He writes in a unique way and shows wonderful character development, and he makes up for the sometimes inconsistent perspectives with an enticing story. I believe that William H. Coles and his book McDowell deserve a 4 out of 4 for this wonderful story.

******
McDowell
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords