A Hollow Cup

Alan Thompson
WingSpan Press (2011)
ISBN 9781595944047
Reviewed by Marty Shaw for Reader Views (09/11)


“A Hollow Cup” wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, primarily because of my own presumptions. I was expecting a hard-hitting legal drama with plenty of twists and turns in the plot. What I got was a hard-hitting look at a town’s war for and against segregation, political players treating citizens like chess pieces in an elaborate game, and a legal drama with plenty of twists and turns in the plot.

Pete Johnson is the small town boy that did good. He grew up, got the heck out of New Hope, and eventually became an attorney that is jaded by the law he serves. Once idealistic, now Pete sees the law as nothing but a tool used by the rich and powerful. Still, he can’t resist returning to the small town he escaped from with the hope of seeing justice served. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that a teen crush is also back in town and he’s hoping the sparks from the past haven’t been snuffed out by the passage of time.

Luke Stanley was a boy that could have almost called Pete a friend, but the two were from two different worlds and neither knew how to cross that final gap. Luke also grew up to be an attorney, and he’s back in New Hope too, prosecuting the man that his almost-friend is defending.

Once the characters are in place, we take a trip back in time and see who our main characters were as children.  We see trials, victories, and decisions that shape the rest of their lives.  We meet Wendy, the young girl who hangs the moon and the stars as far as Pete is concerned and we meet Lilah, the girl whose murder will force the past and present to collide.  Along the way, we're introduced to a number of people who all have their own agendas, some seeking to serve the better interest of New Hope while others seek only to serve themselves.

When we return to the present, the world is seen through a new set of eyes; the eyes of those who lived through the triumphs, tragedies, and secrets of New Hope and understand that there’s a difference between legal justice and true justice, between legal truth and actual truth.

Mr. Thompson did a great job with his debut novel, providing depth and detail to the characters that make “A Hollow Cup” the story that it is. You’ll feel like you walked in the shoes of Pete Johnson and Luke Stanley, and you’ll appreciate their journey all the more when the murderer of Lilah Freedman is revealed.

 

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