Location: Nigeria
Member Since:
March 08, 2011
Abram Bunmi
Biography
Writes thrilling and adventure stories for children.
Books
Smashwords book reviews by Abram Bunmi
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Children of the Fog
on Jan. 25, 2012
(no rating)
After reading Cheryl Tardiff’s work, the Children of the Fog, I learnt a great deal about loving my kids. In my opinion, the following attributes added to making it a great read for parents and authors. Character’s conflicts: the story, set in the cities of Edmonton and Hinton, was about Sadie, mother of a six-year old dumb boy, Sam. She loved Sam dearly despite his disability. Unfortunately, her husband wouldn’t know what is good in liking a dumb child. Sadie is married to Philip whom she could boast was a decent attorney. But, things changed so fast. The Fog, a kidnapper took Sam. Sadie’s world began collapsing as stunning revelations were emerging. The story began with a prologue in which Sadie was about to kill herself because she had seen Sam dies at a scene where she wanted to rescue him from the masked kidnapper. Narration: from beginning to end, every scene was clear, emotional and compelling. The author‘s description of actions, scenes and dialogues was very illuminating. Here is an instance of a moment that stoked the fire in the plot: “Don’t move!” the stranger growled from the depths of the sweatshirt hood. “You have ten seconds to make a decision. Let me walk out of here with the kid, or your son dies.” The following discussion between Sadie and her husband also heightened my interest. “What the officer is so politely asking you, Philip, is whether you’re discussing oil spills with her or screwing her.” “What’s my relationship with Brigitte got to do with my son being kidnapped?” Philip demanded. “...Brigitte and I are associates.” Philip slump down on the bed beside Sadie. “And…lovers.” Despite Sadie getting to know extra-marital secrets of her husband, her focus remained who kidnapped Sam and why anyone could do so. This largely dominated my mind as I read to the end when Sadie realised Sam may still be alive. Morals: there were three lessons that I gained from the lead character. One, it takes more than liking your child to positively demonstrate love to him or her. Second, the way you love an unknown child is how other people love yours. And third, it is good to hope for change. Although, the author didn’t disclose how the boy began speaking again. Perhaps, it was a point-of-view issue. I could classify this novel into multiple genres such as mystery, drama, detectives and thriller. Featuring 14 entertaining characters, it is fast-paced, 220 pages long and, written from third person point-of-view of the major protagonist only. Overall, I rate it a 5-star fantastic page-turner. It was not guessable nor was there unnecessary twisting of the story. It was about the best I read in 2011.