Janeology in The Reasons Why you wrote your book or books

Jun 20, 2008 Cheryl rated it it was amazing

5 stars!

ISBN 13: 978-1601640208
Publish date: April 2008
Hardcover; 256 pages; $24.95
Fiction; Legal thriller; Paranormal

Janeology is a mesmerizing read!

Janeology is a unique and captivating blend of legal drama and paranormal suspense. Jane and Tom Nelson represent an average American family, with twins Simon and Sarah, and the family dog. But one incomprehensible act forever changes their lives: Jane attempts to drown her children and the dog—and only one survives.

What follows is unexpected. Ins 5 stars!

ISBN 13: 978-1601640208
Publish date: April 2008
Hardcover; 256 pages; $24.95
Fiction; Legal thriller; Paranormal

Janeology is a mesmerizing read!

Janeology is a unique and captivating blend of legal drama and paranormal suspense. Jane and Tom Nelson represent an average American family, with twins Simon and Sarah, and the family dog. But one incomprehensible act forever changes their lives: Jane attempts to drown her children and the dog—and only one survives.

What follows is unexpected. Instead of the courtroom drama with Jane in the hot-seat, we’re taken to a time when she is already committed to a psychiatric hospital, and Tom now stands trial in his own fight—the battle to prove that he was not responsible for his wife’s actions, that the charges of “failure to protect” will see him as innocent.

Starting off as a legal thriller, the novel takes an interesting detour when a psychic with family ties is brought in to provide an unusual and compelling genealogical defense—that Jane inherited her indifference and un-motherly qualities from generations of ancestors.

I found the flashbacks into Jane’s ancestors’ lives very intriguing, and some of the complexly drawn characters still linger in my mind. Karen Harrington expertly paints her characters with multiple layers, and with vivid imagery that quickly carries the reader through the pages. You won’t want to put it down.

Perhaps the author has touched upon a truth here. Having actually known and befriended a woman who, years after I’d lost touch with her, had abused, imprisoned and starved her young son to death, I have asked myself many of the same questions that Tom asked. What makes a mother kill her own child? Why didn’t I recognize the signs?

Janeology is a novel you won’t soon forget. I know I won’t. It delves into a highly sensitive topic that is sadly ripped from the headlines in nearly any given month and is never discussed in such detail. All in all, Janeology is a mesmerizing read! I can’t recommend this novel enough!

~ Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
author of Whale Song ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 28, 2008 Chelle Cordero rated it it was amazing

I first “met” Karen on MySpace just as she was receiving the first box of printed books from her publisher; I read all of the promos and watched the trailer.

“Ripped from the headlines”… I read the news, I watch TV. I had heard about the horrific times that a parent has hurt a child. As a mom myself, I have shuddered about those moms who “snap” and kill their kids. It was a fascinating premise and I made plans to read the book.

Then ironically in the parkland near my sleepy community a mom drov I first “met” Karen on MySpace just as she was receiving the first box of printed books from her publisher; I read all of the promos and watched the trailer.

“Ripped from the headlines”… I read the news, I watch TV. I had heard about the horrific times that a parent has hurt a child. As a mom myself, I have shuddered about those moms who “snap” and kill their kids. It was a fascinating premise and I made plans to read the book.

Then ironically in the parkland near my sleepy community a mom drove off of a cliff with her two young children in the car. She died, thankfully the children lived. And the local courts charged the husband with reckless endangerment because his wife had been under psychiatric care. It was a local case and everyone was talking about it, arguing about the charges levied against the husband. Stealing a line from The King and I, it was a puzzlement.

And the copy of Janeology that I had ordered from Amazon arrived in the mail.

You can’t help but THINK after reading a story like Janeology. How many times have we looked at our children and seen traits that must have been genetically passed through the generations? How many times have people looked at us and commented on an expression, a habit, or some quirk that they had known in an older relative? What else is programmed into our DNA along with the color of our hair and eyes? How much does our genetic makeup color what we think is free will?

Karen Harrington draws you into the lives of her characters, she makes you question everything – and she doesn’t just give you answers. There is nothing anti-climatic here. Harrington’s writing leaves her characters indelibly etched into your mind. Even as you finish the last page, you still ponder over the events as if you had been witness to them in real life. You can’t help but feel the husband’s pain and despair – and you are terrified of identifying with his wife. Most of all, you are relieved that you aren’t sitting on the jury.

Janeology by Karen Harrington is a book that will be talked about and argued about for a long time to come. You will never again look at yourself so blandly in a mirror, instead you will see the faces of your ancestors. This is a book that makes an impression. This is a book that you need to read.

...more

1 like · Like · see review

Dec 06, 2008 Grady rated it it was amazing

Nature versus Nurture; The Complexities of Understanding Human Behavior

First time novelist Karen Harrington's JANEOLOGY is a reading experience so thoughtfully conceived and written that accepting the fact that this is a first novel flirts with disbelief. Not only is Harrington a masterful conjurer of a suspenseful thriller, but she is also a wordsmith able to maintain the reader's attention and involvement in her masterful exploration of the science of psychology, genetics, and the fascinatio Nature versus Nurture; The Complexities of Understanding Human Behavior

First time novelist Karen Harrington's JANEOLOGY is a reading experience so thoughtfully conceived and written that accepting the fact that this is a first novel flirts with disbelief. Not only is Harrington a masterful conjurer of a suspenseful thriller, but she is also a wordsmith able to maintain the reader's attention and involvement in her masterful exploration of the science of psychology, genetics, and the fascination with the concept of retrocognition, all the while unraveling a mystery not unlike decoding a strand of DNA. If, indeed, this is a first novel, then we are in the presence of a gifted artist with a bright and solid future.

In a Prologue, Harrington sets the stage for the drama that will unfold in the course of her novel, just as in the Epilogue she manages to tie her tale together in as surprising a fashion as the method in which she relates her story. Jane Nelson is jailed for the drowning murder of her young son Simon and the attempted drowning of Simon's twin sister Sarah. What lead to this horrid act is the theme of the story. That, and the fact that Jane's husband Tom is implicated for not recognizing the mental deterioration and signs of behavior alteration that, had he been more mentally and physically present in the family, could have prevented the tragedy. Tom is supported by his friend and lawyer Dave who is hired to defend Tom in the charges of child endangerment and neglect. Dave, Tom, and 'spiritualist/agent of retrocognition skills' Mariah slowly unravel the events that served as signals to Jane's ability to murder her children. This investigation is done through visits to Jane's past - startling discoveries of familial traits of mental instability as well as repeated incidents of abuse and desertion and brutally faulty mothering and interfamily secrets - that give rise to the question of whether Jane's illness is genetically determined or the product of cruel, inappropriate nurturing.

Throughout these sessions before Tom's trial as a 'co-conspirator' we find Tom's initial love for Jane, his life with her and his twins, and the history of episodes involving Tom and Jane that could have prompted Tom to see Jane for the complete person she is rather than the perception of a wife as he elected to see her with blinders in place. 'The mask of self-control is a powerful antidote to the chaos that rages within us all.' In reflecting on Jane's torrid familial history Mariah states 'Children aren't born practical...Life makes them that way when they are forced to constantly make the best of every situation.' But Harrington's revisiting Jane's genealogy is peppered with many keenly observed ideas: '...time plus tragedy always equal comedy.' and '...pre-death purgatory may look like for the modern man, a place where you are forced to shore up the rationales for your behavior, a waiting room where you must sort out the misdeeds of your mother.' and 'Drugs are often the substitute for multiple generations of parenting support.' and 'I've heard that your mind runs its own tapes, tapes you play over and over again until you banish them through therapy, drugs or religion, or all of those things at once, until you replace them with new thoughts you can live with.'

Tom, in preparing for his trial while Jane is held in custody in jail, absorbs all of the 'ancestral time travel' consequences he has witnessed with Dave and Mariah. '...we three had begun this odyssey looking for traits foretelling danger and we had found them. We found evidence that supported how Jane could have been the inheritor of characteristics that perhaps predisposed her to a personality ill-suited for parenting, its mounting pressures and the daily treadmill of maternal monotony.' And the trial for Tom Nelson pulls all these threads together in a manner that leaves much of the verdict to the reader.

Karen Harrington is such an accomplished writer that it seemed to this reader more important to offer a few pearls of her gift with words and ideas than with a direct recounting of the story within the covers of this strange puzzle of a tale. And that is not to say the story is not revealed with expertise and brilliance: few new writers have the kind of skill Harrington owns in creating a wholly satisfying reading experience. This is a fine book, a unique book, and a book that makes us plead for another by Karen Harrington. Grady Harp

...more

1 like · Like · see review

May 22, 2008 Andrew rated it really liked it

This is a good one…Harrington’s approach to telling this story is unlike any other I have seen and epitomizes the “show don’t tell” doctrine that is so difficult to achieve. The story revolves around the family history of Jane, a troubled woman who has recently murdered her own child. When her husband Tom is accused of sharing the blame for “failing to protect” his attorney creates a defense based on Jane’s genealogy, essentially saying that her family history led to the tragic killings. The fam ...more

Like · see review