‘Broken Hope’ is a twisting tale of vigilante justice | Book Talk
“Broken Hope,” a medical thriller, is a memorable revenge story by Akron physician Carrie Rubin.
Hope Sullivan is known as a dedicated, skilled doctor. She works in a Boston clinic, where she’s devoted to treating her patients with compassion. She has an extracurricular activity: She gives “tune-ups” to administer reprisal to those who deserve it.
Disguising herself, she drugs or tases her subjects and takes them to a barn on a remote property she owns. She threatens a wife beater by stabbing him in the leg and telling him she’ll be watching him. Escalating, she takes a neglected dog from its grim circumstances and treats its owner to some of the same: She collars him, puts him on a short chain and leaves him without water or shelter for a full day. After warning him of what will happen if he ever thinks about getting another pet, she realizes that she feels useful for the first time in a long time.
Hope has suffered unimaginable personal losses, and her vigilante justice is all she has to keep her going. She recognizes that her revenge hobby will eventually have repercussions but rationalizes that she is doing it for “the greater good,” but when she torments an unkind barista, she realizes that “it’s nice to feel something.”
Hope receives an anonymous email from someone who says “I know what ur doing” and then “We need to chat…in person.” She blocks the address. Who could it be? The hypochondriac neighbor who waylays her with his symptoms? The fill-in doctor who looks at her as if she’s an “insect under his magnifying glass?” A few chapters are written from the perspective of the sender, who somehow knows about Hope’s tune-ups and plans to make her pay.
“Broken Hope” is far from predictable; wherever you think it’s going, it’s going somewhere else. Hope’s antagonist, when they meet, is her equal and they match each other ruse for ruse. A smashing ending delivers the goods.
Broken Hope (304 pages, softcover) costs $13.99 from Indigo Dot Press. Rubin also is the author of another medical series, the Benjamin Oris mysteries, and, under the name Dannie Boyd, “Fractured Tree,” an inventive detective novel about a doctor who turns into a tree.
‘Arrow’
“Arrow,” a novella by Medina author Kris Renee, is a dirty, funny update of the mythological romance between the gods Cupid and Psyche,
Cupid is bitterly resentful of his depictions in art and literature, with plump cheeks and fluttering wings. And he hates Valentine’s Day. That said, he likes his job and the power that comes with it for those willing to pay his price. Cupid takes cash and wears Italian suits.
Cupid’s mother Venus notifies him that a mortal woman has taken bad advice from an oracle and that he is expected to rescue her. He’s to help the woman by shooting her with a lead-tipped arrow, which will release her from her bond.
With the assistance of his bro Favonius, Cupid takes aim but then is immediately lovestruck by the glorious human princess Psyche. They have extremely explicit kinky sex and declare their devotion, but Psyche is cursed to be awake only during the night. When she disappears, he must make a bargain with the sleazy Apollo. That’s pretty much the whole plot, which conforms well to the ancient legends.
Renee acknowledges in the book’s forward that she “writes dirty stories with deliciously filthy words,” and a helpful list of the Latin translation of some of those words is included. This is a dirty story.
“Arrow” (111 pages, softcover) costs $12.99 from krisrenee.net.
Events
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Beachwood branch, 25501 Shaker Blvd.): Patricia Averbach discusses her novel “Dreams of Drowning,” 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.
Westlake Porter Public Library (27333 Center Ridge Road): Helen Marketti talks about “The Long and Winding Phone,” featured May 5 in Book Talk, a collection of interviews with people associated with the Beatles, 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. Register at westlakelibrary.org.
Loganberry Books (13015 Larchmere Blvd., Shaker Heights): Randy Cunningham launches “Where We Live: Environmental Activists’ Fight to Save Their Communities,” 7 p.m. Wednesday. At 7 p.m. Thursday, Philip Eil talks about “Prescription for Pain: How a Once-Promising Doctor Became the ‘Pill Mill Killer’,” 7 p.m. Thursday.
Schumacher CLC (1020 Hartford Ave., Akron): Project Ujima hosts an Author Meet & Greet with 19 authors, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Authors include Angela Neal-Barnett (“Soothe Your Nerves: The Black Woman's Guide to Understand and Overcoming Anxiety, Panic, and Fear”), Lashawn Taylor (“Are You Kidney Me?! I Has a Transplant”), Ava Blu Wilson (“Heart Strings — A Conversation in Poetry”), Mwatabu S. Okantah (“A Black Voice in the Wilderness”), Anita Salley (“Peace, Grace, Patience: A Devotional for Anyone Going Through the Storms of Life”) and Ralph N. Paulk (“Follis: Greatness Transcends.”) Free, but registration is required at elizabethsofakronshop.com.
Learned Owl Book Shop (204 N. Main St., Hudson): Linda Robertson Reinhardt signs her fantasy novel “Making Ash of Errors,” 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Parma-Snow branch, 2121 Snow Road): Connie Schultz signs her debut children’s novel “Lola and the Troll,” 1 p.m. Saturday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.
Visible Voice Books (2258 Professor Ave., Cleveland): Mike Petrello signs “Rock Shots: Iconic Images of the Greatest Era of Rock and Roll,” 1 p.m. Saturday.
Fireside Book Shop (29 N. Franklin St., Chagrin Falls): Valeri Furst and Kristy Steeves, author and illustrator of “Milo & Otis,” sign the children’s book about the friendship between a horse and a dog, 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday.
Email information about books of local interest, and event notices at least two weeks in advance to [email protected] and [email protected]. Barbara McIntyre tweets at @BarbaraMcI.
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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: ‘Broken Hope’ by Carrie Rubin delivers the goods
