Markert, James

Readers looking for lighter horror will enjoy.

Distinguished by complex ideas and a foreboding tone, Markert's (A White Wind Blew) enthralling novel captures a dark time and a people desperate for hope. Sensitive readers may shy from the violence depicted. Suggest to patrons seeking fiction with strong character development and themes of revenge, redemption, and miracles.

The setting of this debut novel is well chosen and researched, but the cluttered narrative is uneven in tone. In addition, Wolfgang's selfish focus on his own emotional needs rather than the welfare of his patients makes him a markedly unsympathetic protagonist. The author also glosses over the real horrors of tuberculosis for the sake of the sentimental idea that music is the best medicine. Readers looking for a purely heartwarming tale, however, may be alienated by darker plotlines involving the Ku Klux Klan, suicide, religious and ethnic prejudice, and a veteran's traumatic memories of World War I.