Böcker av John Horak

For many of us, our high school days can best be summarized as a time of personal growth, frequent confusion, raging hormones and an incomplete or limited understanding of what life entrails. The Sac Prairie High School Class of 1973 was no different in most regards from thousands of other graduating classes except for one glaring exception. The class was torn apart by a vindictive Homecoming prank orchestrated by its male members, creating a divide the size of the Grand Canyon within and among male and female members. Subsequent class reunions were marked less by a celebration of fellowship and more by continued animosity over real and imagined past harbored slights. The story might well end there except for the heinous act of international terrorism committed on August 18, 2018 during the 45th class reunion. Unbeknownst to the attendees at that time, the foreign exchange student, a renowned Al Qaeda terrorist, with unbridled hatred for his former classmates, decided to ensure that this was the last reunion courtesy of the explosive conclusion to the evening he had meticulously planned. While the basic facts have been reported ad nauseam, the shocking events of that night and their subsequent impact on the surviving members of the class and the communities remained a closely guarded mystery. Like the sea retains its dead in Davey Jones locker, small towns retain their own secrets. It's well past time that the rest of the world finally hears the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. What A Fool Believes gives a compelling account of the shocking events of this infamous international terrorism incident delivering the most accurate intimate perspectives as told by surviving participants. Join the Class Clown, the IT girl, the Stoner, the BMOC, Miss Congeniality, the Music Man, the Multi-Millionaire, the Farmer, the Gossip Girl and a host of others, if you dare to learn this amazing story. Follow these individuals from the people they once were, people that each of us encountered to some degree during our own high school years, to the people they've become. The story is a cornucopia of emotions, the battle between good versus evil, courage and heroism in the face of the unimaginable danger, enduring love, unrequited love, loss, hope and ultimately, redemption. The deep thinker of the class lived by the motto "everything will be all right" but will it? Or is this just what a fool believes? The answer, along with the strategic use of bubble wrap, will likely surprise.

Midnight Concessions is a compelling read.  Inspired by the Edward Hopper painting “Nighthawks”, the novel introduces the reader to the four individuals captured within Hopper’s masterpiece and provides their histories.   Jay, Osvaldo, Stephanie and Thorpe all meet regularly in the early morning hours in Phillies Diner.  Each is running away from traumatic events of their past, hiding in plain city in the City.   Each patronizes the diner regularly and their stories are told through dozens of songs played on the old-fashioned jukebox in the diner.      Jay struggles with intense sadness over the loss of his wife, Lara, to cancer, a loss he has not been able to come to grips with even though five years has passed.  Through his musical selections, we learn their remarkable love story, a story Hollywood might have a hard time properly scripting given their improbable courtship.  Osvaldo, the sole employee of the diner during the overnight hours is the guardian of the diner. His mother’s instincts enabled him to flee his Sonoran homeland just before his entire family was killed by a drug cartel that his uncle had ripped off before disappearing.  Osvaldo lives in fear that the cartel is still seeking him to finish the job and is rapidly tiring of constantly living on the edge.  Stephanie is a complex character in that she is haunted by events which occurred during her formative years.  Stephanie’s self-exile to the City is the result of having been betrayed by every single person she loved in her life.  Now she lives an uncertain life realizing the only person she can really trust is herself.  Although Jay is mired in his grief, and Stephanie is shackled by her complete distrust of anyone other than herself, each is strangely drawn to the other.  For much of the book, this unusual attraction is told by their conscious and unconscious reactions to the songs played by the other.  Thorpe is fleeing from past crimes, fearful that someday his sordid past will catch up with him.  Thorpe unknowingly places the diner and its patrons in grave danger through a poorly thought out plan which would enable him to appear heroic during the course of a crime and thus wins Stephanie’s affection.Within the diner’s confines each of our damaged characters finds a sense of community and via the music of their lives that we are able to gain a complete picture of the person they were, are now, and strive to be.  Each ultimately comes to the conclusion that while you can run from the past, you cannot hide from it and we see their decisions to return to their past lives seeking some measure of redemption.   They fail to consider are the pitfalls awaiting them and the steep price that will be exacted of them for their harbored hopes and dreams.   Midnight Concessions is a story rich in human emotion.  It is a story of improbably love, crushing loss, sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, shame, fear and guilt.   It is a story of the triumph of the human spirit recognizing that in the midst of utter desolation, the possibility exists that through understanding and hope, joy can be found in the ashes of a life thought forever lost. The shocking ending is one that few readers will see coming!