Review of Mad Crows, Twisted Roads

[Sarah Schmidt]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Mad Crows, Twisted Roads" by Travis Alan Lafferty.]

---

4 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Mad Crows, Twisted Roads is a contemporary fiction novel written by Travis Alan Lafferty. It follows the lives of a group of people, intertwined by love, familial ties, and other twists of fate, as they attempt to find balance in a rocky world.

Doug Mahoney is feeling the effects of the slump brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and loneliness. He goes about his day like normal, in a sort of pall, until a bicycle accident puts him in a world of hurt. Good comes out of his misfortune, as he and the rider, Maya, hit it off. Maya, a mother of three and grandmother of two, is not looking for commitment. She has her stuff together, and her drive and powerful sense of self rejuvenates him, influencing him to improve his life in general. Maya has some baggage, however. This is in the form of Tony, her ex-partner, who causes her problems both during and after their time together. Tony’s lifestyle attracts characters of the unpleasant sort, and his time in a rehabilitation centre grants him an enemy in the form of Kevin Dunlap, who later decides to act out a revenge scheme. Kevin and another goon, Ainsley Zidel, both appropriately saddled with the unfortunate monikers, Snail and Stench, respectively, end up on the run after their plans to get back at Tony and instigate violence at the BLM protests go sideways.

Black and white watercolour illustrations kick off each short but engaging chapter. The book has racial tension, relationship highs and woes, and crime present. I liked the variation of the issues the protagonists face. Dan and Rene are facing the difficulties of marriage. Doug and Maya won’t let age stop their budding romance. Tony tries to reinvent himself. Nikki may just have found the one she’s been looking for after a series of failed flings. Through it all, the family leans on each other. There was an unexpected not-quite bromance between Doug and Tony that I found delightful, brief and virtually non-existent though it was. They displayed a level of maturity in how they went about dealing with each other, starkly noteworthy because of their circumstances.

There were at least two points in the story where the morbid cant of some of the characters’ thoughts had me worried about the direction of the plot, but they quickly find their footing and the story resettles on track. Near to the ending, the book swerved from the flowery atmosphere of new beginnings and nuptial life to follow a more adventurous, high-action route, with the antagonists receiving more narrative focus.

Everyone seemed to have this happy-go-lucky vibe that made for a seamless narration. Doug opens the story, meeting Maya soon after. This creates a path for a foray into her children’s lives and their perspectives. In order of age, they are René, Monica, then Blake. Tony gets the limelight in his role as Maya’s ex and Blake’s father. The entire family is unwittingly and coincidentally linked to a pair of fugitives, who go on their own wild ride later in the story.

Lafferty writes well, even outside of the quality of editing. Added to that, the realism of the story was driven high by the characters’ constant battling of relatively current events, mirroring the frustration, tiredness, and tension I believe we’ve all felt for the past two years. I liked this most of all. Though the ending scenes of the story were definitely fictional, readers won’t have a hard time slotting these occurrences into what has already transpired in the real world.

The errors I found totalled a negligible number of seven, making me believe that this book has been professionally edited. There were some inconsistencies with the way how certain words were written, but I did not count that in the final marking of mistakes, as I thought they could be easily overlooked. To sum it up, there was nothing that I disliked about this book.

Mad Crows, Twisted Roads gets a final rating of four out of four stars. This is thanks to the great editing quality, the interesting nature of the plot, and how relatable and well the characters were written. I recommend this book to people who enjoy contemporary stories. Those who like reading about romantic and familial relationships, with some action scenes present, and who don’t mind heavy profanity are sure to love this book. Readers more interested in stories with a sedate pace and mild language should perhaps avoid this book.

******
Mad Crows, Twisted Roads
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

[Megan Devries]

After reading your review, I really want to read this book. It reminds me a little bit of Romeo&Juliet. Can't wait to read

[Afrochild7]

I love that it celebrates love between people of different ages. Too many times, that type of love is portrayed as "love of convinience" break the chains of stereotype