The Way Life Should Be - Review by Tyron Paul Touchard

The Way Life Should Be - Review by Tyron Paul Touchard

     The last Thursday of November 2004, killing a slow afternoon at work, I told the finance guy that I was going to write a book.

"What are you going to write?" he said.

I look at him and smile because I had a great idea for a book. "The first sentence of the first page is going to say, ‘Like it says in Moby Dick,'".

"Okay," he grinned. "Then what?"

"Then I'm going to quote Moby Dick verbatim and publish the book with a title that says: Moby Dick as Told by Ty Touchard."

"Brilliant," he said.

"Yeah, I'll publish a whole series like that. Fight Club, The Great Gatsby, maybe even the Bible."

After tossing around other brilliant ideas, I returned down the hall to my office. The finance guy sent me an email with the first page of A Tale of Two Cities and note that said I should get started on my book. I never really wanted to push the limits on copyright laws but I guess I did want to write a book. That day I started writing a novel.

February of 2007, I discovered a writing competition hosted by gather.com, Boarders, and Simon & Shuster. I was unpublished, unrepresented and I had a completed work of fiction. So I decided that I would enter my novel, Tar and Feather.

Meanwhile, in Knoxville TN, some literary agent was explaining to some unpublished, unrepresented novelist that it's impossible to get published these days unless you're a celebrity or have the flavor of the week. This guy decided, about the same time that I decided, that he would enter his novel The Way Life Should Be in the gather.com contest.    

Before I entered on the last day of the competition, I must have read over a hundred entries in the First Chapter contest. After I had read fifty, I started to think that I might just win this thing. Then I read the Terry Shaw entry. Doubt crept-in on my chances. I couldn't help but leave him a positive review and a ten star rating. Then I read Dream War by Steve Prosapio and Lone Pine by Ken Waxlax. No way I was getting out of the first round. 2500 entries and months of voting, reviewing, and emailing before Terry Shaw won the Grand Prize with his novel The Way Life Should Be. The publisher sent me a copy three weeks ago.

Bill Cosby explained once that when anyone concludes a story with the phrase, "You had to be there," they simply don't know how to tell a story. I'm willing to bet that Terry Shaw never concludes a story with that phrase. This book tells a great story.

 ***

The Way Life Should Be, by Terry Shaw is a fantastic read.

This mystery novel takes place in a small Maine town called Stone Harbor. The story follows the life of John Quinn, a newspaper editor whose best friend Paul has recently been beaten to death, after-hours, in a park often frequented by gay men.

Who killed Paul Stanwood is the centralized plot. Quinn has a two-fold motive for solving the crime. One, he is the editor of the town paper the Pilot. Two, the victim was his best friend. John Quinn has little faith that the local cops are capable of solving a murder case in a town that hasn't had a murder for generations. He is also suspicious of the local selectmen politicians who seem uninterested in justice.

Creative scenes like the funeral, obituary, and newspaper articles provide the back-story. Memories flood John Quinn frequently causing him to flash back. The childhood story of John and Paul growing up in Stone Harbor let the reader understand why Quinn is convinced that his best friend wasn't gay. They tell why Quinn is staunchly dedicated to solving the crime. They outline the dynamics of the small town politics and why so many people had a motive to murder Paul Stanwood. 

Who's who in The Way Life Should Be? John Quinn is married to Maria and they have a six-year-old son named Jack. John Quinn lives in the shadow of his father Jake Quinn who ran the Pilot that was handed down from his father and grandfather.

Paul Stanwood was married to Lizz and they have a fifteen-year-old daughter Dianne and six-year-old son Paul Jr. His father Angus is a popular but controversial businessman that owns half of Stone Harbor.

Other notables include the young driven reporter Sarah Sewell, the finance executive Seth Quinn (John's cousin) and Aunt Quinn.

Alvah Sears is a childhood rival of both John and Paul. He is a former athlete that now serves as the town Police Chief.

Dr. Bryan Bowen-Smythe is a local politician and professor at Wellsen College.

Who killed Paul Stanwood is a great excuse to tell the real story of John Quinn. He is a man that is under pressure to solve this crime, be a husband, be a father, run a paper, and seek justice for his friend in no particular order. Quinn works odd hours, too many hours at the expense and neglect of his wife and child. At times, his family understands and at others, they don't. Anyone that works with deadlines and obligations while balancing family life will relate to the conflict John Quinn faces. He loves his wife but this is important and yeah, he might miss a dinner or breakfast. He loves his son but he can't make the game. When he does make time for his wife or his son everything else seems to fall apart. Ugh. I relate.

Quinn also manages the inappropriate chemistry with Paul Stanwood's widow Lizz. She is a mess that engages in bizarre behavior, even under the understandably awkward circumstances of her husband's death. Together, Lizz and Quinn socialize against the backdrop of unresolved emotions and histories.

By the conclusion of this book, I felt like I had vacationed in Maine, ran a newspaper, run for office, and fought for my life. The writing is effortless and the story is priceless.   

The John Quinn journey includes twists, turns, and eventually satisfaction. Terry Shaw is a gifted storyteller that has created characters that readers will root for, villains that readers will root against, and at the end of the book, readers will realize that the heroes and villains are one in the same. A cool trick that might be a theme in Shaw novels to come, of which, I suspect there will be many.