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The Price of Guilt
The Price of Guilt is a modern morality tale with a suspenseful plot. It is a story about the destructiveness of a misguided guilt. The novel is narrated as a flashback, as Thomas Walsh sits in a jail cell, anguishing over his ignorance about how he ended up as he did and awaiting a post-trial visit from Donavon Killerman. While attending his twenty-fifth high school reunion, Thomas Walsh is blind-sided by reminders of an accident that took place when he was 13 years old—an accident in which Thomas had some involvement and which left a fellow classmate, Donavon Killerman, blind and orphaned. Now a prominent lawyer, though reeling from a recent political scandal and mired in marital problems, Thomas suddenly feels an urge to go to Donavon’s aid. Seeking some sense of moral redemption, Thomas checks into Donavon’s rundown fishing resort under a false name. As he begins to grasp the extent of Donavon’s legal problems, Thomas revels in the role of savior. But the more he blindly fills that role, the more he becomes entangled in risky schemes. Thomas soon finds himself in unfamiliar territory, dealing with vindictive cops and hardened drug dealers. He also begins to suspect, during a late-night encounter with a female guest at the resort, that someone is spying on him. This suspicion leads to a break-in of a private investigator’s office, which sets in motion a chain of events that suddenly reverses the roles of the two men, raising the Who is really the blind one? The Price of Guilt is a finalist in the 2011 International Book Awards in two Literary Fiction and General Fiction.
Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
About the author
Patrick M. Garry
28 books15 followersWhenever she could find a few spare moments, usually late at night, my mother read. She loved books. To her, reading was both a staple and luxury of life. Because of her example, we all became avid readers. And I became a writer.
My mother was my one consistent reader...and editor. She compiled the indexes for my early law and history books. I didn't even know how to construct an index, but my mother figured it out.
She supported all my writing, but she seemed particularly pleased when, after years of publishing books on law and history, I began writing fiction.
My first novel, "A Bomb Shelter Romance," involved a comedy about an eccentric family in a small town in the Midwest. After she read the manuscript, I could see the questioning look on my mother's face. Perhaps she worried that the family in the novel represented her own family--and maybe it did. It was then that she gave me some advice: try to write about things that really matter.
It took me 13 novels to fully follow that advice, which I think I finally did with my latest, "The Encounters of Quintas Livius." This novel combines history, faith and fiction. It presents a story of an agnostic Roman tax clerk caught up in the miracles of Jesus as he makes his way to Jerusalem.
Faith plays a vital role in many people's lives. But faith involves mysteries; and comprehending mysteries requires imagination, not facts. Consequently, our imagination can be a valuable tool in strengthening or understanding faith. "The Encounters of Quintas Livius" shows just how that tool might be used.
Mom, I hope I finally got it right.
* *
The host of a national book review radio program has called Patrick Garry the best undiscovered writer in America. But Patrick is unique in another respect. He writes about themes and ideas that are often absent in the works of contemporary American novelists.
Garry’s novels reaffirm life and the struggle of individuals to live their lives in ways that rise above mere materialism and the stranglehold of destructive temptations. In A Bridge Back, he writes about characters who never quite lose their desire for redemption, no matter how much guilt they feel for the mistakes of the past. Confronting the past can lead to a discovery of truth, which can then lead to the only true freedom. And once the enslavement to fear is ended, a rediscovery of love becomes possible.
Life can be simpler, and yet more heroic, than is often portrayed in the modern media, which can immerse us in a flood of all that can go wrong with life, rather than clarify for us what lies at the core of life—what defines it and makes it worth living. Garry's novels seek to rescue us from that confusion.
My mother was my one consistent reader...and editor. She compiled the indexes for my early law and history books. I didn't even know how to construct an index, but my mother figured it out.
She supported all my writing, but she seemed particularly pleased when, after years of publishing books on law and history, I began writing fiction.
My first novel, "A Bomb Shelter Romance," involved a comedy about an eccentric family in a small town in the Midwest. After she read the manuscript, I could see the questioning look on my mother's face. Perhaps she worried that the family in the novel represented her own family--and maybe it did. It was then that she gave me some advice: try to write about things that really matter.
It took me 13 novels to fully follow that advice, which I think I finally did with my latest, "The Encounters of Quintas Livius." This novel combines history, faith and fiction. It presents a story of an agnostic Roman tax clerk caught up in the miracles of Jesus as he makes his way to Jerusalem.
Faith plays a vital role in many people's lives. But faith involves mysteries; and comprehending mysteries requires imagination, not facts. Consequently, our imagination can be a valuable tool in strengthening or understanding faith. "The Encounters of Quintas Livius" shows just how that tool might be used.
Mom, I hope I finally got it right.
* *
The host of a national book review radio program has called Patrick Garry the best undiscovered writer in America. But Patrick is unique in another respect. He writes about themes and ideas that are often absent in the works of contemporary American novelists.
Garry’s novels reaffirm life and the struggle of individuals to live their lives in ways that rise above mere materialism and the stranglehold of destructive temptations. In A Bridge Back, he writes about characters who never quite lose their desire for redemption, no matter how much guilt they feel for the mistakes of the past. Confronting the past can lead to a discovery of truth, which can then lead to the only true freedom. And once the enslavement to fear is ended, a rediscovery of love becomes possible.
Life can be simpler, and yet more heroic, than is often portrayed in the modern media, which can immerse us in a flood of all that can go wrong with life, rather than clarify for us what lies at the core of life—what defines it and makes it worth living. Garry's novels seek to rescue us from that confusion.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 8, 2011
Revenge is one of the most popular themes in the history of literature --- dating back to pre-biblical times. Readers are consistently drawn to a good revenge story because, if done well, they can identify with the protagonist/antagonist seeking the revenge and vicariously enjoy when they are successful in this endeavor.
Often times, stories of revenge are predictable and trite, and readers may give up caring about the outcome long before the final page is turned. The latest novel by author/Professor Patrick M. Garry, THE PRICE OF GUILT, falls somewhere between these two extremes.
Attorney Thomas Walsh attends his high-school reunion --- with great reluctance. The reluctance is not over any embarrassment he has about his life or fear of mingling with colleagues who have become unrecognizable since he last saw them. Walsh’s trepidation lies in the fact that he does not wish to relive a tragic event that he and some classmates were involved in back when they were thirteen. This accident that Walsh still feels heavy guilt for resulted in the permanent blinding of schoolmate, Donavon Killerman. Donavon was successively orphaned and Walsh and his reunited school-mates had not seen him since that fateful event.
Walsh is at a crossroads in his life. His marriage to wife, Sarah, has been on the down-turn for a long while and his legal career has recently taken a hit when a client of his became involved in a political scandal that threatened to ruin his career. Walsh could certainly use some good karma --- so he decides to look up Donavon Killerman after nearly thirty years. Donavon runs a dilapidated fishing resort that has seen better days. Arriving there with Sarah, and signing in under her name so as to not rouse suspicion, Walsh decides to spend a mini-vacation at Donavon’s resort and get to know him in the progress.
Walsh’s guilty feelings instantly get the best of him as he finds the blind Donavon struggling to keep the resort running (Walsh is his only customer) and entangled in various legal problems. Walsh figures this is the perfect opportunity to make amends while never revealing his true identity or actual purpose in being at Donavon’s resort. I only it were that easy. Walsh quickly finds himself mixed up in drug deals, an extra-marital affair and the target of an eager private investigator. Things start to spiral out of control as Walsh’s life and marriage begin to crumble around him --- with no sign of light.
THE PRICE OF GUILT begins with a decent enough premise and Garry clearly has a command of the written word. However, the novel begins to lose steam about half-way through and the inevitable ending will not come as a surprise to any shrewd mystery/thriller fan. The continuous jumping back in forth in time throughout the narrative --- from Walsh’s present position as an inmate in Orono Prison to the events that led him there --- becomes a distraction and I found much of the information unnecessary. A decent and quick read --- but not a memorable tale of guilt and revenge.
Reviewed by Ray Palen for Rebecca Reads
Often times, stories of revenge are predictable and trite, and readers may give up caring about the outcome long before the final page is turned. The latest novel by author/Professor Patrick M. Garry, THE PRICE OF GUILT, falls somewhere between these two extremes.
Attorney Thomas Walsh attends his high-school reunion --- with great reluctance. The reluctance is not over any embarrassment he has about his life or fear of mingling with colleagues who have become unrecognizable since he last saw them. Walsh’s trepidation lies in the fact that he does not wish to relive a tragic event that he and some classmates were involved in back when they were thirteen. This accident that Walsh still feels heavy guilt for resulted in the permanent blinding of schoolmate, Donavon Killerman. Donavon was successively orphaned and Walsh and his reunited school-mates had not seen him since that fateful event.
Walsh is at a crossroads in his life. His marriage to wife, Sarah, has been on the down-turn for a long while and his legal career has recently taken a hit when a client of his became involved in a political scandal that threatened to ruin his career. Walsh could certainly use some good karma --- so he decides to look up Donavon Killerman after nearly thirty years. Donavon runs a dilapidated fishing resort that has seen better days. Arriving there with Sarah, and signing in under her name so as to not rouse suspicion, Walsh decides to spend a mini-vacation at Donavon’s resort and get to know him in the progress.
Walsh’s guilty feelings instantly get the best of him as he finds the blind Donavon struggling to keep the resort running (Walsh is his only customer) and entangled in various legal problems. Walsh figures this is the perfect opportunity to make amends while never revealing his true identity or actual purpose in being at Donavon’s resort. I only it were that easy. Walsh quickly finds himself mixed up in drug deals, an extra-marital affair and the target of an eager private investigator. Things start to spiral out of control as Walsh’s life and marriage begin to crumble around him --- with no sign of light.
THE PRICE OF GUILT begins with a decent enough premise and Garry clearly has a command of the written word. However, the novel begins to lose steam about half-way through and the inevitable ending will not come as a surprise to any shrewd mystery/thriller fan. The continuous jumping back in forth in time throughout the narrative --- from Walsh’s present position as an inmate in Orono Prison to the events that led him there --- becomes a distraction and I found much of the information unnecessary. A decent and quick read --- but not a memorable tale of guilt and revenge.
Reviewed by Ray Palen for Rebecca Reads
April 15, 2012
They say that love is blind but guilt can often have the same effect. Perhaps guilt is even more powerful as it can eat away at a person indefinitely. Even when logic tells them that there’s nothing we can do about the past, somewhere deep inside they feel they need to suffer as much as the victim.
In his youth, Thomas Walsh and his friends were spying on people at a local motel when they came across a couple obviously having an affair. As a lark, they decided to blind-side the couple and take their picture. Unfortunately, playing with the lives of others can have unforeseen and dire consequences.
Those pictures became public. Embarrassed and shameful, the woman decides to take her own life. Her husband, wishing to get to his wife before it was too late, dies in a car crash. Their son is blinded in the wreck. The wife eventually goes through with the suicide. In the end, a young boy, Donavon Killerman, is left blind and orphaned because of a joke.
Years later, at a school reunion, old scars are brought to the surface for Thomas. He hears that Donavon owns a fishing resort that is having financial troubles. Still filled with unresolved guilt, Thomas decides to check into the resort under an assumed name and see if there is anything he can do for Donavon.
In the blink of an eye, helping becomes like a compulsion for Thomas. The real question here is how far is Thomas willing to go to appease his guilt? Is he willing to risk everything that he’s worked so hard for since that tragic incident?
In his youth, Thomas Walsh and his friends were spying on people at a local motel when they came across a couple obviously having an affair. As a lark, they decided to blind-side the couple and take their picture. Unfortunately, playing with the lives of others can have unforeseen and dire consequences.
Those pictures became public. Embarrassed and shameful, the woman decides to take her own life. Her husband, wishing to get to his wife before it was too late, dies in a car crash. Their son is blinded in the wreck. The wife eventually goes through with the suicide. In the end, a young boy, Donavon Killerman, is left blind and orphaned because of a joke.
Years later, at a school reunion, old scars are brought to the surface for Thomas. He hears that Donavon owns a fishing resort that is having financial troubles. Still filled with unresolved guilt, Thomas decides to check into the resort under an assumed name and see if there is anything he can do for Donavon.
In the blink of an eye, helping becomes like a compulsion for Thomas. The real question here is how far is Thomas willing to go to appease his guilt? Is he willing to risk everything that he’s worked so hard for since that tragic incident?
April 8, 2015
This book was truly a marvel to read. I enjoyed it very much. The mystery and how things turned out was fulfilling. The down side is that the one in jail is to blame and no one else because he put himself there.
April 12, 2015
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. Thank you Professor Garry and Goodreads.
This is a good novel about the ultimate story of revenge and the lengths that a person will go to ease their conscience. I kept thinking this main character, can't be so naive as not to see what is happening, when it is plain as day. But when plagued by guilt for more than 25 years, maybe it one would turn a blind eye to the obvious. All in all, it is a very good novel that moves at a fast pace.
This is a good novel about the ultimate story of revenge and the lengths that a person will go to ease their conscience. I kept thinking this main character, can't be so naive as not to see what is happening, when it is plain as day. But when plagued by guilt for more than 25 years, maybe it one would turn a blind eye to the obvious. All in all, it is a very good novel that moves at a fast pace.
March 28, 2015
What an excellent book!!! I loved it! It is a fast, easy read, but it is so interesting and definitely a page turner. I can see why Patrick M. Garry has won so many awards. I was fortunate enough to win this book on Good Reads. I don't want to give away the ending, but the reader will be very surprised. The story just swept me along and I was amazed at what happened to Thomas Walsh.
April 20, 2015
Overall, a good read. Interesting premise and very well developed characters. My biggest complaint is that it was too short. The conclusion happens in just a few pages, wrapping up the story a little too abruptly. I would have preferred a longer, more developed ending. I received my copy through Goodreads First Read Giveaway program.
May 21, 2012
Greatly enjoyed this good from Professor Garry. I have read Professor Garry's academic work, but this was the first novel of his that I have read. The book was a page-turner; a very quick read; but not so quick that it lacked substance. Recommended summer reading!
April 11, 2015
FTC Disclosure: I received this book free from Goodreads hoping I would review it.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews