The Tattered Coat

Rating:
Summary: "Very Compelling"
Review: "Tattered Coat," by talented storyteller Stephen Sulik is a very compelling page-turner. I loved it! The characters are believable and the plot is a real thriller. But is is also a subplot ROMANCE (my favorite, smile). Mr. Sulik has a sure winner on his hands with this fabulous read! Take "10" writer Silik you've earned it!

Rating:
Summary: The Tattered Coat
Review: "The Tattered Coat" by Stephen R. Sulik is a compelling tale that spands across time and space.

An unusual story with a premise that I found very engaging. The characters are easy to be drawn to, the dialogue moves right along, and the plot is exciting and effective. A real page turner to be sure!

John Savoy
C.E.O. & Financial Advisor
Savoy International
Motion Pictures Inc.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Engaging Story!!!
Review: I finished this book in one day. This was a very engaging story with very interesting characters as well as a very fast moving plot. The story opens up with the death of a couple during a time when war was sweeping Europe, we then move to present time and Houston, Texas and are introduced to homicide detective Sean Jamison. Sean is thinking about retirement. He really wants to find the kind of love that his parents shared. True, deep, and abiding love. Sean knows that his best chance at finding this woman is by hanging up his hat and then while looking for another suspect for another crime he happens upon an old tattered coat that he knows will lead him to his true love. He finally finds this woman with help of the coat that she purchass at a flea market but she doesn't remember him or the past life that they shared. The backdrop for this romance is a storyline that revoloves around a serial killer that has killed before and has tangled with Laura and Sean in their past lives. This killer has again pinpointed Laura and now it's a race against time to stop him before Sean looses her again to this vicious killer.

This was a very and interesting read and as I stated earlier managed to devour in one day. I've never read Mr. Sulik prior to this but I will now look for his other titles when they are available. Do yourself a favor and get your hands on a copy of this book.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Engaging Story!!!
Review: I finished this book in one day. This was a very engaging story with very interesting characters as well as a very fast moving plot. The story opens up with the death of a couple during a time when war was sweeping Europe, we then move to present time and Houston, Texas and are introduced to homicide detective Sean Jamison. Sean is thinking about retirement. He really wants to find the kind of love that his parents shared. True, deep, and abiding love. Sean knows that his best chance at finding this woman is by hanging up his hat and then while looking for another suspect for another crime he happens upon an old tattered coat that he knows will lead him to his true love. He finally finds this woman with help of the coat that she purchass at a flea market but she doesn't remember him or the past life that they shared. The backdrop for this romance is a storyline that revoloves around a serial killer that has killed before and has tangled with Laura and Sean in their past lives. This killer has again pinpointed Laura and now it's a race against time to stop him before Sean looses her again to this vicious killer.

This was a very and interesting read and as I stated earlier managed to devour in one day. I've never read Mr. Sulik prior to this but I will now look for his other titles when they are available. Do yourself a favor and get your hands on a copy of this book.

Rating:
Summary: (3-) Love is Forever! Are Hatred and Death Also?
Review: My reaction to this book by Stephen Sulik was complex! I found a great deal that deserves praise but also enough faults that my overall rating rises only to the level of three stars. This review attempts to present a detailed discussion of both the positive and negative aspects of my reaction. A reader with different reading preferences or tastes could easily reach a much different conclusion than mine (as several more favorable reviews indicate). What is completely evident is that the author has strong feelings about several issues addressed by this story and writes passionately concerning them. The book is relatively short and a very easy and quite compelling read; if there are aspects which might interest you, I would urge you to read it and then write your own review.

This book begins with a fast paced and stressful account of the last few hours in the lives of two star crossed young lovers, Laura and Emil, in a war torn country years ago. This chapter contained powerful imagery and intense emotion, and despite its apparent disconnection to the next few chapters of the story, it is in fact crucial and the details are cleverly interwoven into the later segments of the story. My view is that the author would have been well served by expanding this chapter into a quite riveting standalone short story. In some ways, such an approach would have been a much more feasible method of examining the possibility of reincarnation and its effect on our lives and actions (one of the many interrelated storylines).

The second and third chapters are set in the present in Houston, Texas and provide the background for the remainder of the story. We first witness an obvious psychopath commit a brutal murder. Next we are introduced to Houston Police Detective Sean Jamison, a loner more interested in whether he is so burned out that it is time for him to retire than in the serial murderer preying on vulnerable female residents of his city. Of course, these diverse elements (a deranged serial killer, Sean Jamison and his solitary lifestyle, and that scene of terror played out long ago and far away) will all manage to coalesce before the story is concluded.

The remainder of the story is a straight police procedural with the overlay of a romance which utilizes reincarnation as a plot device. This is further complicated by a philosophical discussion of the role of violence in what he views as a male dominated society (undoubtedly based on Sulik's own experiences during his law enforcement career). An effort to convincingly weave together all these diverse threads would be difficult even if attempted by a more accomplished author in a much longer novel. Despite the author's best efforts, the result here is not wholly satisfactory. He rushes through sections that deserve a fuller and more nuanced treatment, but takes much too long to deliver his sermon and tie up all the loose ends at the conclusion. (He accomplishes this admirably; answers were provided concerning all the details which I had questioned. In contrast, except for the use of reincarnation as a convenient plot device, there is no real discussion of this very controversial topic.) Thus, by trying to do so much, Sulik dilutes his effort and lessens his accomplishment. Due to his career, this story works best as a police procedural, with the romance element as an additional intriguing twist that adds to the reader's interest and Sean Jamison's motivation. I believe that inclusion of the idea of reincarnation, while well integrated into the story, added unnecessary complexity. A simpler story might have allowed for the development of deeper and richer detail about the characters and their actions and emotions. Finally, while the author's message concerning our societal shortcomings is obviously heartfelt, it needs to be more skillfully integrated (a feat very difficult to manage) in order not to impede his ability to reach his potential audience.

One major note of praise, I really liked the way in which "THE BALLAD OF READING GAOL" by Oscar Wilde and to a lesser extent "THINKING OF LAURA" and "MARY IN THE MORNING" were integrated into the story. This thoughtfulness and attention to detail was very well handled, and simply made me more keenly aware of the partially unrealized potential of this work. Additionally, the cover artwork was some of the most appropriate that I have seen.

Finally, his publisher unfortunately did not provide the editing support which any writer deserves. The primary problem was incorrect grammar and inappropriate usage of words and concepts. (In one case, there were three such errors on a single page.) In my opinion, an important element of writing involves using language correctly; unfortunately for many authors, editing is one of their obligations that seemingly is increasingly ignored by many publishers.

Disclaimer: The publisher furnished a copy of this book to me in the hope that I would read and review it. I made no advance commitment to do so and have no relationship to anyone associated with this book. Nevertheless, I believe that I should make this fact known in the interest of full disclosure. I was hesitant to accept the offer, both because I was concerned about the level of violence and because I have had disappointing experiences regarding the quality of the editing with other books from this publisher. My first concern was relatively unfounded, the descriptions of violence are generally brief and not overly graphic; my second concern was completely justified and in fact a contributing factor to my neutral rating.

Tucker Andersen

Rating:
Summary: Midwest Book Review - enigmatic, sensual, frightening
Review: The Tattered Coat is an enigmatic and often starkly sensual tale. Romantic and frightening, intriguing and violent in turn, the author weaves a mystery of lost love and a vicious serial killer's madness.

Sean Jamison is a loner, a dinosaur, a decidedly unmodern male. His profession as police detective in the Houston Metro area has burnt him out in every way a man can be. Deliberately celibate and achingly lonely, Det. Jamison has waited all his adult life to find the one woman he can ever truly love. He's beginning to fear that no woman would want the ragged burned out gumshoe he's become. Still, he hopes for a woman of substance. His tortured mind imagines having the kind of love he witnessed between his parents. Sean dreams of unconditional love, of loyalty and commitment with no doubts, He desires a one man woman, one that will be soul mate, lover, companion, and anchor. If that woman ever materializes, Sean is prepared to be that much to her and more.

A cunningly evil serial killer is stalking the women of Houston. His cryptic statement to each victim after death and before taking a lock of their hair is, "Yet each man kills the thing he loves..." Det. Jamison and his co-workers scramble in their efforts to get into the perpetrator's brain before he kills again. Sean's efforts are almost derailed when unexpected buried memories resurface.

One morning on his way to work, the sight of a refinery's huge smokestacks belching smoke nearly incapacitates Sean. He feels as if he has spontaneously combusted just before unconsciousness sets in. Suddenly, he knows who he was in a past life, remembers how he died in Nazi-infested Europe, and knows the lover he's been searching for. And then he spies a tattered double breasted coat at an outdoor flea market. HIS coat, the coat his sweetheart died in. The search begins for his lost lover, a search that crosses paths with the serial killer who stole that first love from him.

In this haunting tale of murder, reincarnation, and timeless love, Stephen Sulik resurrects the characters from a previous book, Random Ransom. I plan to read that previous book in hopes of learning more about Det. Roman Addison and Capt. Virginia Schaffer. All characters are well developed and the dialogue is realistic. Gritty everyday scenes that greet policemen on the job are believable and harsh. But it is with the reincarnated lover, the desperately lonely Sean Jamison, that Mr. Sulik shines. Romance readers as well as action thriller fans should find The Tattered Coat pleasing fare. This is not a book for children or early adolescence.