Review – The Cure

Athol Dickson in his book, “The Cure” brings us into the life of Riley Keep.

From the back cover:  Riley Keep, former missionary, now a drunk, is begging on the streets and desperate to forget a past he lost in one far-flung act of wickedness. Then he hears the rumors. Miracles are happening in the picture postcard village of Dublin, Maine.

Riley isn’t the only Pilgrim searching for deliverance. There’s the old woman fleeing a horrific monster, the lonely wife tempted by forbidden desire, the impoverished lobsterman lured by tainted wealth, the young girl weighing life and death decisions, and the small town cop with a murder on his hands. But only Riley keep will learn if it’s true what people say: sometimes The Cure is much worse than the disease.

Before Athol Dickson became a master storyteller he was a master architect.  It takes great creativity, imagination and “smarts” to design a building that will fit within the specified acreage and have all the required components and still be spectacularly beautiful.  Now that Mr. Dickson tells stories he utilizes all the skills he developed in building buildings to build stories for us.

I know that when I find a book by Athol Dickson I am in for a really great story read.  When Athol Dickson tells a story he builds it like an architect, start with the foundation and then each floor goes up methodically after the previous floor has been built.  Reading “The Cure” is a lot like being thirty-five stories in the air, walking on nothing but a steel girder just wide enough for your foot; no walls, no floors, nothing but air.  Very terrifying but it leaves you with a deep sense of fulfillment when you are done.  Mr. Dickson has provided us with another winner with a his focus on addiction and how do you cure it?  Do you use medical science that can make you worse off than when you were addicted or is there a better way?  Riley Keep is a drunk who hears about a cure and miracles happening so he goes in search of answers.  What he finds puts him in direct opposition to those that are promoting the cure.  And that is where the events start turning deadly.  “The Cure” is loaded with twists and turns and red herrings that will leave you guessing all the while you are flipping pages to find out what happens next.  When you finish this book you will heave a hugely satisfying sigh because you have enjoyed yourself immensely.  I liked this book and recommend it highly!