Trust me, if you're a man and you've been the victim of a crime, it's not hard to see yourself following the descent of Jim Sandusky. Maybe not all the way to killing someone, but that's not how Jim started out, either.

At this level, Kevin Desinger's novel works quite well. As you witness Jim's descent, you know it is going to turn out badly, just not for whom.

A second thread, involving his wife's past miscarriage, seemed overwrought and not quite believable for a detached husband. But on reflec More...

You never know what will happen to you if you give in to an impulse - Jim Sandusky sees two men trying to steal his car in the middle of the night and leaves the house to investigate. What happens next is a nightmare for him and his wife and the two thieves. In between the action, Jim muses about love, loss, heaven and hell. I agree with him completely when he says that hell is believing that how you feel with never change, that it is the loss of hope. Jim doesn't lose hope but he does seem to l More...

This book held my interest for the most part, but I did have some problemswith it. First, there was just too much extraneous filler that did nothing to advance the story - specifically the whole miscarriage flashback, the "how we met" flashback, the book of Eastern philosophy from his boss.... The other problem was the believability factor for me. How does Joe-wine-steward go from steal their ride 'cause they're trying to steal my ride to cold-blooded murder? And how does it make sense that the More...

This book is a great read, a real page-turner, though it's also thoughtful and has depths that will reward a re-read. The main point of the book is how one impulsive action can lead to the graceful inevitability of the utterly implausible, and the efforts of this one man to recover from that. One bad move can turn your world upside down (to quote a favorite tune from Lyle Lovett), and suddenly he's dealing with consequences on a whole different level.

The characterizations here are rich and the More...

Sometimes I read about someone taking some kind of bold vigilante action and I think, "Good for them!" Other times I think, "Are you an idiot?" An interesting guy with a quiet life and a fulfilling marriage, Jim Sandusky finds himself the victim of a common crime, but as he reacts, moment by moment, he finds himself doing things he would not have imagined himself capable of. He examines these reactions, and in a parallel narrative, revisits the past to examine his response to the disappointment More...

This review first appeared on my blog: http://www.knittingandsundries.com/20...

When Jim and his wife Marla wake to find two men attempting to steal their car, while Marla waits inside and calls the police, Jim tiptoes out to the scene. Seeing the door of the thieves' truck open, and no clear path to keeping his own car, he hops into the truck and hightails it out of there. Sort of a "Hah! NOW what are you two going to do?" kind of moment ... until he realizes that what he just did makes no real More...

This book was spellbinding! I made the mistake of beginning the final third of the book shortly before bedtime. Not only was it so creepy that I kept glancing around my darkened room as I read, but it was so riveting that I had to keep reading and reading and reading until the wee hours of the morning. So definitely buy this book. But don’t start the later chapters anywhere near your bedtime—unless you, too, want to be reading at 3 A.M.

Wine steward Jim Sandusky becomes embroiled in a dark mystery when he attempts to prevent two hoods from stealing his car from his driveway late one night. His reaction takes a violent turn, complicated by his already somewhat fragile emotional state. The sparsely populated story encompasses not only his plunge into darkness, but the beginnings of his climb back out, with the help of a likeable supportive cast and, surprisingly, poetry. Desinger's tale is involving, believable, and suspensefully More...

I read it based on Poornimas' review:
http://bookreview.mostlyfiction.com/2...

and agree with her on her assessment, "...it exudes an honest empathy that makes The Descent of Man an extremely fun and fast read."

It's a different kind of problem for the an author to propose and solve in a credible way, which I think he does. I also liked learning a bit about the wine business.

The plot seems clunky at times, but tightens up as the
story unfolds, with flashbacks setting the stage in
unexpected ways. Realistically inconsistent main
character in this first novel by Desinger. I'd want to
take a look at his second, if he writes one.

4.5/5

Brillant. My full review may be read on my book review blog Rundpinne.

This book showed early promise, but it was best when it stuck to the inner workings of the mind. It got too confusing by trying to do too much, thriller, love story, etc.

I can't get through it. I want to like it, but the man is so completely mind-blowing idiotic. I really don't want to read his point of view.

An interesting introspective novel. I reviewed it on my blog here: http://www.thelitwitch.com/?p=3598

I have not had a book flip me out in the first 10 pages as much as this one did!! AMAZING read---gives you a lot to think about in terms of "what would I be capable of??"

I liked the beginning of this tale, a great start, but I thought the eventual murder just didn't fit with this guys personality. His inner turmoil never really grabbed me enough to say "oh yeah". I'm not sure who I would recommend this book to.