Review – A Shred of Truth

In A Shred of Truth, we once again find Aramis Black at home in his Nashville coffee shop with his brother Johnny Ray fast climbing the ladder to country music fame. The mystery takes off from the first chapter when Johnny Ray is abducted and the initials AX are slashed into his back.

Aramis wants to protect his brother. Wants to discover the identity of the sicko cutter. Wants to settle into the comfort of his motto, Live by the sword, die by the sword, that brought him through his tumultuous past before he gave his life to God. But now, the motto only serves to complicate matters. Does he revert to the security of his motto and seek vengeance or does he follow the faith that tells him to lay back and let Detective Meade handle the investigation?

Aramis struggles admirably with the decision, but when the threats become personal the motto wins out and he is thrust into a hunt that has all the elements of a keep-you-reading-when-you-should-be-sleeping mystery. If Wilson’s fast pacing and superb prose don’t firmly affix the book in your hands until the last page, his revelation of a mid-book surprise guarantees you’ll read until the satisfying ending.

When I finished Eric Wilson’s last novel, The Best of Evil, I thought it would be difficult for Wilson to top that book. As I said in my review of The Best of Evil, Wilson’s prose was outstanding, his characters deep, his pace fast moving but full of life’s meaning that connects us with the characters, and his dialogue genuine. The same is true of A Shred of Truth, but Wilson has provided an even more compelling mystery in this one.

And, as in his last book, Aramis Black’s struggle with his faith, with doing the right thing staring him in the face and failing to do it, rings true to the reader. Through his balance of credible dialogue and internal exposition, Wilson reveals Aramis’ strife and helps the reader recognize and better understand the battle with the same force in their own life.

Be sure to buy A Shred of Truth, but before you do, I’d like to encourage you to read The Best of Evil. Though A Shred of Truth is written as a stand alone and you don’t need to read book one to enjoy and understand book 2, once you read A Shred of Truth you will be compelled to go out and buy The Best of Evil. So why not maximize your experience and read the books in the order they were written? Either way, Eric Wilson has crafted a pair of books that belong on every discerning reader’s must read list.