Book Review: Shattered Illusions - Leigh Hershkovich

Title: Shattered Illusions

Author: Leigh Hershkovich

Release Date: April 20th 2013

Publisher: Full Court Press

Genre: Adult

Source: signed copy from author

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One murder. Four eyewitnesses. An unknown assailant. A victim with a mysterious secret. Bystanders beleaguered by life's losses. A killer at large...

When Sam, the proprietor of a local cafe, is shot dead on the street, four strangers become unwitting witnesses to the crime. As the investigation progresses, this quartet of onlookers find themselves not only haunted by the homicide, but pursued by their own pasts.

As they plunge deeper into the reality of his death, all are forced to realize that the loss of Sam is far from their most devastating. Inner anguish reaches a climax point for Ella, Marco, Sarah, and Danny as the answers they are hunting for continue to elude them—and the evidence they hope will vanish refuses to disappear.

I have history with Shattered Illusions. September of last year, I restarted my blog, and Leigh was the first author to contact me for a review. Back then, the book didn't even have a cover or release date yet, so I really watched this book grow. And wow, how finely it aged, indeed.

Leigh's captivating prose immediately stood out along with the obvious question of how four people, our main characters, got involved with the homicide. There were, admittedly, times when the story became too vague; one might even consider those parts unnecessary to the plot but, unclear as they were, I actually liked reading those because they tended to be the most descriptive bits and they added a lot to the overall mystery of this book.

What surprised me was how Shattered Illusions isn't a mystery novel so much as an exposition of our main characters' lives that diverged and culminated in Sam's killing. Even then you'd think the whole book is like listening to a new friend's life story, but no—I felt like I lived every moment as Ella, Danny, Sarah, and Marco. Shattered Illusions is dark, gritty, and emotional, just like how it truly is inside a human mind.

There couldn't be a group of four people with more different lives, yet at the heart of them laid one stark similarity: depression from taking the blame for another person's action. But one of this book's very few faults is the lack of distinction in the characters' voices despite their overall differences. Take out the essence of their thoughts and they might very well be the same person. Or maybe that's just a way of showing that suffering identifies with everyone.

A bleak story with lots of lessons to offer, Shattered Illusions is a very unique novel. It's not a simple thrilling mystery, and people looking for something straightforward and easy to read might find themselves easily distracted, but the right readers are surely in for a treat.

MY FAVORITE PART is the realistic ending.

RATING:

{Guest Post} Leigh Hershkovich

Hi everyone! Today, I have the honor to have Leigh Hershkovich, author of Shattered Illusions, here on the blog! Without further ado...

‘Fear can you make you compromise.’ A simple statement, but the effect ripples and is immensely powerful. Have you ever found yourself in such a deep state of fear that it causes you to forsake every logical voice in your head? The fear is so deep and so intense that it momentarily makes you believe that it has super human powers. Can you envision that kind of fear? It grips you, shakes you and literally causes you to rethink your entire existence. We’re not talking about a ‘simple’ fear, like a fear of dogs or a fear of, say, jello. We’re talking about the type of fear that turns you into an invalid. A complete and total fool. Have you ever felt such a fear before? Perhaps you haven’t, but trust me, when you do finally feel this fear, you’ll understand just how crippling it can be.

For the characters of Shattered Illusions (due out May 23rd from Full Court Press), this type of fear is an every day occurrence. Though they are different people that come from unique backgrounds, their fears pull them together and create a family of them. These four people, from diverse backgrounds and different personalities, are run by their fears. Every one of them bases their life, and the decisions they make, on their fears. Fear controls them. When they are brought together by unlikely circumstances, the murder of a local business owner, their fears reach an all time high, and they can begin to heal. It is through the communal pain that Ella, Sarah, Danny and Marco learn how to face their fears and recreate themselves.

Is there a cure for something so crippling? There may be, but it is not one that is found with ease, or can make everything disappear for good. Perhaps it is facing the hardest fears that give a person the option to choose. Fear is a choice. A person has the right to choose whether or not they will allow things, big or small, to control who they are and the decisions that they make. Fear can make you compromise everything you know, everything you are, however, it doesn’t have to. Fear does not have to become the deciding factor of your life. These characters, as crippled as they are, slowly make the decision to stop allowing their fears to define them. From fear of loss to fear of divorce, they all come to terms with who they are and what they have to face. It is only through their greatest lose that they learn this lesson. Not everything in life must uproot itself due to difficulty. The greatest cure for such crippling fears is to decide that you are beyond the fear, as they characters do. It is not what the fear is, it is how you handle it that makes all the difference.

Now, for more about Leigh's book:

Title: Shattered Illusions

Author: Leigh Hershkovich
Release Date: May 23rd 2013

Publisher: Full Court Press

Goodreads

When Sam, the unassuming, salt-of-the-earth proprietor of a local cafe is shot dead on the street, four strangers become the unwitting witnesses to a seemingly inscrutable crime. As the investigation progresses, this quartet of accidental onlookers find themselves not only haunted by the homicide, but pursued by their own pasts.

The deeper into the death they delve, the further into their own personal histories they plummet, as each is forced to face the fact that the loss of Sam is far from their most devastating. As the case continues, inner anguish reaches crescendo points for Danny, Ella, Marco, and Sarah as the answers they want continue to elude them, and the evidence they want to escape refuses to retreat...