Another Broken Wizard

By: Colin Dodds

Narrated by: Curt Bonnem

Jim Monaghan really didn't want to go back to Worcester, when sudden unemployment and his father's surgery forced his hand. Drifting into a dubious ICU romance while he tends to his father, Jim seeks out his childhood best friend, Joe Rousseau, who has problems of his own. Joe's in a feud with a local gang, and his plan to resolve the matter only makes things worse. Nonetheless, Jim follows his friend into the Worcester nights defined by drugs and violence. As the danger escalates, he makes a painful choice to try to save Joe. And then he has to live with the consequences.

A book about the threshold of childhood and adulthood, about straddling the expectations of a fading industrial home and the attenuated promise of an information economy, about reconciling the love for a friend with self preservation, Another Broken Wizard is, above all, a portrait of Worcester, Massachusetts.

“Exceptionally vivid characters, a story which sneaks up on you at first, then gathers pace, and the book has tight writing which keeps you turning the pages right until the profoundly moving denouement. Simply put, Another Broken Wizard is brilliant. Read this book!” (David Gaughran, author of A Storm Hits Valparaíso)

“Dodds gets Worcester and shows it in all of its glories and cracks.... He runs through the streets of and takes the reader with him...capturing all of the said and unsaid...so full of waiting, of pain, and of hope that never reaches past the next day.” (Worcester Pulse Magazine)

©2009 Colin Dodds (P)2019 Colin Dodds

Another Broken Wizard

Another Broken Wizard is my first introduction to Colin Dodds’s work. It is one of those books that has quite a unique story line. Which was a little refreshing to have something different to read. There were a few scenes that I was confused or thought was a little slow, but would pick up quickly. I had the pleasure of listening to the audio version and thought the narrator, Curt Bonnem, brought out the best of the book. His performance was great.
I am giving Another Broken Wizard three stars. I believe it is worth a read and many readers would enjoy it.
I received the audio version of this book from the publisher. This review is 100% my own honest opinion.

Not all I expected

Well, it’s a story but not one that grabbed my attention. It has all the main elements – characters, plot, setting. Out of this, the setting was the strongest. Worcester is the main mover of the story – that’s what grabbed my emotions and I loved the descriptions of this failing city.

Jim is just an OK guy and he hangs out with OK people. None of them are exceptional and none of them are doing anything exceptional. There’s a lot of drugs, drink, and sex. Jim is just cruising through life enjoying his superficial relationships and trying his best to avoid more meaningful connections. The one exception to this is Joe, his best friend. Many of their interactions are pretty superficial, but over time, they’ve had so many of them, spent so much time together, that they do have a deeper bond.

However, none of the characters grabbed my heart. Joe is a goof, and occasionally made me laugh, but sometimes I wanted to push him out of the car or punch him in the face. He’s not really doing anything with his life and doesn’t appreciate his family or his work buddies. He says he’s tired of this 9 to 5 stuff and so he starts looking for that quick cash. Selling drugs is what he chooses, but Joe isn’t the smartest tack in the batch. It just brings more trouble down on him.

Let’s talk about the ladies, because Jim and Joe certainly spend lots of time talking about them. With the exception of a few moms and 1 sister, all the ladies are sex objects. They whine, they are attention-hungry, they’re annoying, etc. It was a real disappointment that there were no worthy ladies in this tale. Also, Jim’s and Joe’s treatment of the ladies made me dislike them.

We finally arrive at the emotional ending of the story. Well, emotional for Jim. I wasn’t emotional because the story had a very small plot with no characters I connected with. 3/5 stars.

The Narration: Curt Bonnem did a really good job narrating this book. He captured the regional accents very well. His female voices were believable and he had distinct voices for all the characters. The pacing was perfect and there were no technical issues with the recording. 5/5 stars.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Colin Dodds. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.