Sunday, November 4, 2012

THE WAITING ROOM by F. G. Cottam_Review


The Waiting RoomThe Waiting Room by F.G. Cottam
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Review of The Waiting Room by F. G. Cottam

5 Stars

There should be a special star-rating system for authors like F. G. Cottam, who always and without fail delivers extraordinary, polished, deeply-characterized, complexly-layered stories which never fail the reader. “The Waiting Room” intricately weaves multiple eras of history with the present, and multiple timelines. One of the protagonists, Martin Stride, is probably now one of my favourite characters composed by Mr. Cottam, an individual of such integrity that he almost literally shines with it. Julian Creed and Elena Coyne musn’t be omitted either. In fact, many of the characters of multiple eras are people of integrity. Then, of course, there are the requisite failures: the outright evil, the foolish, and those who think so highly of themselves that a fall is surely the result.

I came away from this novel thoroughly convinced of the accuracy of the Classic Greeks who wrote over and over again about Hubris: it is not just pride that precedes a fall, it is Hubris. Mr. Cottam’s character Bruno Absalom has it in full, and when he decides, almost on his own recognizance, to knock on the doors of Heaven and demand entrance-to say, “Lazarus, come forth”-he overreaches, of course, and many there are who suffer his failures.


View all my reviews

No comments:

Post a Comment

FURTHERMORE