Title: Consequences To Sin
Author: Robert Lehr
Publisher: iUniverse
ASIN: 9781532038914
Pages: 620 Genre: Fiction / Mystery
Reviewed by: Jake Bishop
Pacific Book Review
In the Chihuahuan Desert, a man comes to his senses gradually. His battered and bruised body indicates some form of foul play. Unfortunately, his mind is unable to put the pieces together. He can’t come up with an explanation as to how he became stranded, why there’s a huge knot on his head, or who if anyone beyond himself is responsible. A prospector finds him, he’s taken to Las Cruces, and eventually questioned by the police. Unable to adequately answer their questions, he suggests that he be allowed to put together a chronicle of his life, in the hope that this recounting will unearth possible leads to who may have been involved. So begins a journey back in time—a journey that will have a man xamining his past to help find answers to his present, and perhaps his future.
The man is Matt Williams. Readers are made privy to both his history and his contemporary situation, which involves a virtually spontaneous attraction to a beautiful redhead named Ashley. While these two plotlines intertwine—as Ashley insists that Matt share his background with her as well as the police—the bulk of the book consists of Matt’s narrative. It principally covers the period from his high school days in the 60s’ up through the 80’s, with college years and beyond carrying the bulk of the story. Most of Matt’s tale concerns itself with another beautiful redhead named Kathy. She’s a coed like no other, tall, statuesque, exquisite. The duo’s initial meeting is either totally happenstance or ordained. The two choose to believe it’s the latter and a love affair begins that will take them from university dorms in Manhattan Kansas to sound stages in Hollywood, and eventually to a life as husband, wife, and parents.
As Matt’s story unfolds, different characters come in and out of their lives. There’s Dorothy, a mentally disturbed young woman whose love and lust for Kathy puts all three of them at risk. There’s Carol, an adventuresome woman who can’t keep her mind or her hands off Matt. There’s John, the business executive who wants to take Kathy’s career to the next level and perhaps their relationship as well. But through it all Matt and Kathy’s love for one another prevails, until fate deals a card no one could have foreseen.
Author Robert Lehr’s book Consequences To Sin is long on a lot of things, such as pages and love scenes—love scenes with generous helpings of sex. Judicious editing would have aided in eliminating repetition and improving pace. From time to time dialogue seems less than real. Which is odd. Because at other times it smacks of actual conversation. That being said, there’s still an intriguing mystery that one wants to find answers to. The answers arrive at the end, albeit suddenly. Still, if you’re up for a rambling, raucous whodunit and why, you might want to look into Consequences To Sin.
