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Formats
Paperback Book Details
  • 11/2019
  • 9781655258763 1655258761
  • 289 pages
  • $10.99
S. Mandel Joseph
Author
The Passage of Anne Donovan

Adult; Mystery/Thriller; (Market)

For years, Anne Donovan has struggled to heal from the murder of her mother. When her psychiatrist recommends a hypnotherapist who can transport people's consciousness through time, Anne jumps at the opportunity of traveling back to the time before her mother's death. But when she gets there, she becomes determined to prevent the murder of her mother, leading her down into a dark spiral of revenge, crime, and murder. She soon finds herself in a cat-and-mouse game with her mother's killer. And, if she doesn't return to her present-day consciousness, she not only risks becoming trapped in the body of her teenage self, but becoming the next victim of her mother's killer. 

Plot/Idea: 8 out of 10
Originality: 7 out of 10
Prose: 7 out of 10
Character/Execution: 8 out of 10
Overall: 7.50 out of 10

Assessment:

Plot: This time travel thriller incorporates elements of the supernatural into a high-impact crime story that delves into psychological anguish. Post-traumatic stress disorder threatens a woman’s existence until she finds a dangerous hypnotic pathway to the past, a tempting opportunity for revenge—farfetched but riveting.

Prose/Style: Reminiscent of the Twilight Zone television series—a perplexing mixture of mainstream drama and cheesy horror—the tension-fraught novel is an expedition into a warped time zone with bizarre explanatory passages. Teetering precariously on the science fiction genre line, yet tipping into the mystery and thriller marketing niche, the tone fluctuates between prose appropriate for both, never placing a firm foot in either.

Originality: Action-oriented with a street gang attitude, this cynical narrative plummets to the depths of murderous terror, exposing the worst side of human nature in shocking descriptions and dialogue. Gripping scenes succeed in ensnaring the distant past, molding it against a preconceived plan in an attempt to reshape a heartbreaking reality.

Character Development: The disturbed yet sympathetic portrayal of this novel’s determined heroine remains cloaked in a multicolored coat of contradictory motivations, a heroine seeking peace, yet simultaneously pursuing vengeance. A treacherous edge to her character manifests itself throughout the book.

Date Submitted: May 04, 2020

Reviews
Readers' Favorite

Passage (A Time Travel Thriller) by Stephen M Joseph is a time travel tale that would appeal most to a diverse audience made up of mature young adults and adults who enjoy dark cat and mouse game stories and do not mind some explicit language and graphic violence. Anne Donovan-Weatherford’s life was forever changed when her mother was murdered and no amount of therapy has served to heal her emotional trauma. The help of a mystical hypnotherapist might just be what Anne needs to help heal her, yet what was supposed to be a jaunt through time leaves her in the body of her 19-year-old self, forced to try to find the mystical hypnotherapist in the past. Will Anne manage to find the hypnotherapist, will she remain stuck in the past, or will a single murder become a double murder?

Move over Doctor Who and make room for Anne Donovan-Weatherford in Passage (A Time Travel Thriller) by Stephen M Joseph. This book is not the typical time travel story as it had so many different elements that helped to really flesh out the plot and the characters. The author did an amazing job of building suspense and getting me invested in Anne’s life to the point that I had to keep reading to find what her fate would be. She was simply a great character in that she was not some golden heroine or perfect princess but instead was more like a real woman with real trauma. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and the ending suited the book perfectly in that it was unexpected, yet made perfect sense for Anne Donovan-Weatherford.

News
02/04/2020
BROOKLYN SAVVY TV SHOW

Author S. Mandel Joseph to appear on popular New York Talk Show discussing his new book, Passage, on the topic of femicide in our society. 

Formats
Paperback Book Details
  • 11/2019
  • 9781655258763 1655258761
  • 289 pages
  • $10.99
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