Fiction
stacy’s story
John J. Blenkush
2011
246 pages
In John J. Blenkush’s latest novel, stacy’s story, the lives of a young married couple are irreparably damaged and changed by a man trying to cover up a crime. What started as a two-week camping and hiking vacation in Taylor Lake, California, quickly turned into a nightmare. Love, survival, and retribution are the main themes of this story of good versus evil. devil. In this book, Blenkush taps into the full gamut of the human experience, from abject fear to relentless courage.
Blenkush begins Stacy Freeman’s story near its end: she is in the hospital after giving birth to her son. Despite encouragement by the nurses and her family to feed her unnamed baby, Stacy refuses to acknowledge it. She is waiting for the results of a DNA test that will reveal the father of her child: her late husband or the monster that held her hostage for five days, nine months before the birth of her child. From this starting point, the author immerses the reader in the tragedy that changes Stacy’s life forever.
After months of planning their getaway to Feather River Canyon, Stacy and her husband Cory come to grips with the destruction a massive fire has wreaked on more than 44,000 acres of the area. Refusing to postpone his expedition, Cory finds an alternate path at Taylor Lake. The day after their arrival, the couple begins the task of climbing the mountain. When Stacy can’t climb, Cory, an experienced climber and hiker, finds a trail that leads them to Kettle Rock Summit. As they near the top, Stacy insults her ankle. Cory goes ahead to seek the help of the ranger stationed at the fire tower. Stacy slowly makes her way to the gazebo and the pair enter the tower with Brock Tillotson. Brock has no useful first aid supplies to offer Stacy; furthermore, his strange and nonchalant behavior gives Cory a bad feeling, so the couple leaves. Brock tells them to stay on the path as they head down the mountain. Due to his uneasy feeling for Brock, Cory leads his wife out of the way. It turns out to be a fatal decision.
A gunshot changes the course of Stacy’s life during the terrifying five days Brock holds Stacy captive. The physical and psychological terror he inflicts on the young nurse forces her to renounce her dependent nature and take on the harsh and callous perspective of a cold-blooded criminal in order to save her life. As the days pass, Stacy develops a toughness that transforms into superhuman courage and a burning desire for revenge.
This story is powerful and emotionally overwhelming. Blenkush emphasizes his protagonist in every possible way, right down to the harrowing battle he wages against his maternal instincts in the days before she learns who is the father of his child. And yet he survives it all. For me, the most important thing about this book is that even though the main character is a woman, Blenkush allows her to adapt and grow through her ordeal using all the resources she has as an individual. He doesn’t portray her gender as an obstacle. Stacy is just a human being who does everything in her power to survive.
stacy’s storyit’s an amazing story. I highly recommend.
Melissa Brown Levine by Freelance Professional Book Reviewers
