Trios

Death, Deceit, and Politics

By: Carl Parsons

Narrated by: Jeff Heisler

Rita Collins, a reporter and writer for a local Washington DC television station, faces apparently unexplained rejection by her husband, who has suffered amputation of both legs during the Iraq War. He refuses both her affection and any attempts at rehabilitation.

At the same time, Rita is investigating a radical political cell on an elite college campus. With the help of her husband’s psychiatrist, she discovers that her marriage was doomed from the start because of its intricate ties to the career of her politically corrupt father-in-law, a Pennsylvania state senator, and his manipulative political advisor.

Once her initial grief gives way to anger, Rita uses her contacts within the news media to exact revenge on her father-in-law. On the same night she successfully covers a major campus riot, the revenge she fashions proves more destructive than she could have imagined.

©2022 Carl Parsons (P)2023 Wordwooze Publishing

Excellent story

Great story interesting and unexpected twist at the end of the story. Enjoyed listening to it.

simply Outstanding

Every person in this story had their own agendas and all were liars to one degree or another. I don't think I liked a single character, but I admired some. The last two chapters are game changers, and I had to sit and process it all before writing this. I was smiling so huge my face hurt and the twist at the very end, I suspected, but hearing it made me gobsmacked. I LOVED THIS. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest opinion. The narrator was good.

Political and Personal Corruption

Carl Parsons wraps the state of society into the life of a political kingpin—Senator Leader hoping for a successive political win. Rita Collins, a Washington DC television station reporter, is married to a wounded veteran, Brian. Brian hoped to follow in his father’s political footsteps. He and his school friend, Vincent, were on tour in Iraq when he lost his legs and his friend was killed. Brian refuses treatment for unexplained reasons. His father, Dolph Collins, never visited his son in the VA hospital. Marla, his mother and trophy wife, wants her son to do therapy and come home.

Veterans get support in the hospital as long as progress continues. When Brian refuses treatment, a psychiatrist gets assigned. Interviews of the people in Brian’s reveal a dark, seedy side to love and politics. Marla shares how she met and married her husband and the personal and political sides of her unhappy life. Rita also carries her share of secrets. She is unaware of many of Brian’s decisions when she tells the psychiatric team what she knows. Mr. Parsons creates distinctive, three-dimensional characters. Their choices during their life’s journey are like individual hamsters on their wheel, making choices that won’t quietly disappear even in death.

The narration by Jeff Heisler fits the grim thriller in tempo, though in places, it seems too slow. The women’s characters sounded similar, while the men’s voices were more distinguishable. Fans of political thrillers will enjoy peeling back the layers of the manipulative lies until the unexpected end.

There were no issues with the quality or production of this audiobook.

Interesting

This charters in this book each had their own needs to fulfill. Interesting how it all came together