I am stepping away from the genre of book that I usually review. The book I most often choose for myself is the latest and greatest development in autism intervention and treatment. In my past life (before children and before autism), I used to read for pleasure, and would choose books that took me away to another place and time, an escape from my work, grad school, and mundane chores. I miss time spent reading fiction that takes me away from autism for a brief escape, and I have enjoyed every book I've been given to review the past year and a half.
My usual review books and personal reading choices are marketed to either educators, parents, or both (and most often about autism), or novels of fiction written for a Christian audience. Fallen Lotus Petals is a novel for adults written for a general audience. This one's different in another way: I know the author. We worked for the same big-red-flash company when my husband and I lived in the Los Angeles area in the '90's. I recently discovered Jordon Papanier on facebook via another co-worker and am delighted to read that he's written and published a book (and did the artwork for the book cover, too) - impressive!
Fallen Lotus Petals, by Jordon Papanier, is a novel of crime and suspense, about FBI agent Tom Larson's personal and professional life, as he encounters drug and human trafficking, murder, domestic abuse, a cross country move, and the discovery of a new type of gun, made from plastic that isn't detected on scans coming into or leaving the country.
When I pick up a novel that I can't get into right away, I have a difficult time finishing it. If the plot and characters in the first chapter or two don't pull me in, I put the book down and don't pick it up again.
When I picked up "Fallen Lotus Petals", I read eight or nine chapters without stopping. Papanier hooked me from the beginning; I went to New York with FBI Agent Tom Larson, and then to Los Angeles with him. The storyline is engaging; Papanier's vivid descriptions take me to some places I've not been before, and some I have, and I can see them all in my mind. (I hadn't thought about Tony's Restaurant in years - what a fun memory. And I could see in my mind the spot where Tom was involved in a car accident. I haven't been to either place in years.)
In "Fallen Lotus Petals", Papanier writes about real-life events that members of our law enforcement encounter every day, including mental illness and murder, and including abuse of one human being by another. Papanier's main character, FBI Agent Tom Larson has a soft heart and a solid sense of right and wrong when it comes to tracking down criminals. Larson is is one of the good guys, protective of the weak, aggressive with the bad guys, a righter of wrongs, a man who is willing to risk his career and break the rules in a creative way in order to give girls imprisoned in human trafficking a chance to return home and start over. (That part of the story had me thinking about a ministry from one of our church organizations that's aim is to fight human trafficking.)
The book was an excellent escape for me.
(I wish I were on the beach reading it, though.)
I enjoyed the story.
Jordon's a fantastic writer. Penny R. Mi.
Novel “Fallen Lotus Petals” now on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Fallen-Lotus-Petals-Jordon-Papanier/dp/143925561X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260606837&sr=8-1
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