Pushback, by John
E. Stith (ReAnimus Press)
I encountered the work of John E. Stith through his
imaginative hard science fiction novels, Redshift
Rendezvous and Manhattan Transfer
(among others, but these were my gateway). I was curious to see what he would
do with mainstream thriller material, and I was richly rewarded. Stith is not
only thoroughly skillful in handling character, plot, and descriptive
narrative, but in this book, he weaves together a dramatic, tension-filled plot
with the main character’s struggles with PTSD. In fact, rarely have I seen a
protagonist as functional yet scarred, and PTSD and the techniques for managing
it so accurately depicted.
Dave Barlow has made a remarkable recovery from childhood
trauma. He’s a successful investment adviser, and happy in a new romance after
the death of his fiancée. Things start to go wrong in bizarre, inexplicable
ways when he and his girlfriend show up for his high school reunion and no one
there has heard of him. Soon it becomes apparent that someone is trying to
systematically destroy every aspect of his life – his relationship, his career,
his home, his assets . . . and then his very life. The most likely suspects
include anyone outraged that he has found love again, like his dead fiancée’s
wealthy, reclusive father.
Stith shapes the tension of this thriller with consummate
skill, pushing each new threat ever higher. I especially admired how he used
Dave’s inner turmoil and still-unhealed wounds to intensify the escalation of
pressure. The dramatic story is extremely well handled, but most of all, it’s a
compassionate, humane tale of the resourcefulness of a deeply damaged, yet
sympathetic, courageous, loving person. Ultimately, it’s as much a story of hope
as a page-turner thriller.
