The Disintegrating Bloodline

Louis T. Bruno
iUniverse (2009)
ISBN 9781440129162
Reviewed by Marty Shaw for Reader Views (08/10)


I would like to think there’s a good story in here somewhere because the concept is intriguing. I really like the idea of a high school student possessing the power and authority reminiscent of a mafia-style godfather. Unfortunately, I found myself shaking my head frequently because of dramatic writing and descriptions that were applied to scenes that were clearly devoid of drama.

Scenes such as this made me seriously wonder if I was missing something:

“Chris’s green eyes were full of fire when he saw A.J. walking with a chipper smile as his dark black hair glinted in the sunlight, revealing the small brown patches of hair.  “Hey A.J!” Chris said, and then shook his hand with a mighty, earth shaking force.”

What follows that scene is a conversation between friends. Exactly why are Chris’s eyes full of fire in such an innocent situation? I honestly don’t know, but Chris is apparently a very angry, young man because his eyes are frequently full of fire and his voice constantly drips with sarcasm…even when his words imply no sarcasm at all.

In addition to reading about instances of misplaced emotions at odd times, I found myself struggling on a regular basis with scenes such as this:

“Jacob fell short as all the cuts made his skin sting in the same way as if liquor was poured on his face. Only then he poked the small Kershaw knife into his throat, and then pulled it out in one quick instance.”

At first glance, it appears that Jacob took his own life, but after re-reading the paragraphs that preceded and followed the above sentence, I had to conclude that Chris actually killed Jacob because Chris was the knife-wielder in the fight. Frequent instances similar to this one made it impossible to enjoy the story because of the constant struggle of figuring out what’s actually going on.

As far as the actual plot goes, there are a lot of secret meetings filled with conversations that never really go anywhere, gunfights that happen for no obvious reason, and the ‘mystery’ of the missing cousin doesn’t provide any suspense because the answers become apparent way too early in the story.

I would only recommend “The Disintegrating Bloodline” to someone who has never read suspense so the mystery of the cousin might actually last until the conclusion and who also doesn’t mind struggling to find meaning in the obscure grammar contained within the pages.

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