I have a Kindle, one that is just for reading, and I saw Moving Day for sale for only 99 cents. I figured it would be dull and forgettable, but since I'd never sampled one of these 99 cent books I thought I'd give it a try. The protagonist is like 71 years old, and me, 64 thought I'd like to read about an old guy hero. I'm starting not to relate to the 30 year old hero how has a small prostate and lots Low T problems. Well, I finished MOVING DAY by Jonathan Stone, and I have to say I thought it was just great. There was this cleaver inciting incident: criminals pose as movers and steal a wealthy older couple’s entire house's content. I couldn't imagine how the protagonist could track down and get his stuff back, but he did. The plot is good. It is a thriller and, at least for me, it qualified as a page turner. But this book was more than a neat idea, or a thriller, and more than just a great book for senior guys like me to read. MOVING DAY is not only a good read; the writer has attacks of poetry from time to time. I think one of the things I liked most about this novel are the writer’s times when the narrative of a character’s thoughts becomes very, very close to being poetry. For example [the line breaks are mine turning the passage into found poetry]:a scared silencegrowing in toneenlarging somehowa silence sacred,but common,natural,a quiet silenceis preferable to talk.OR consider this short passage:I want everythingbecause I don’t knowwhat I want andno matter what I get,or what I takeit is never fulfilling.Does calm come fromclarity of thought, orthe simplicity ofhuman connections perhaps?The doubts and reflections,the ruminations said indulcet tonesthe times, the many timesof disconnectionsor irremediable separatenessfrom each other. . .Another aspect of the writing I found delightful was this play of story lines. There is some parallelism going on, where the story takes our protagonist full circle. The similarities of the old man’s current and childhood experiences develop a sort of synergy. When the protagonist was a 7 year old Jewish boy he was forced to hide from the Nazis and survive against all odds by luck and resolve. The author takes specific incidents from that 7 year old child and the lessons learned then provide the old man with experience and a tactical advantage over unscrupulous pudding headed adversaries that outnumber him.Jonathan Stone is gaining success and that is as it should be. When you have a talent and you have the determination to learn your craft, and if you can keep at it with very little positive feedback, the plight of most writers, and if you can get to the place where you tell a good story and your telling is not just good, but it raises the bar for readers and envious writers alike, well you have earned our attention and it should be rapt attention. Stanley Peke (born Stanislaw Shmuel Pecoskowitz in Poland during the Nazi regime) is a 72-year-old survivor; Rose, his wife of over 50 years, is 70. After moving from their Greenwich Village apartment, and 40 years living in their large house in Westchester while raising their three children, it is finally moving day, when they are about to start the newest chapter of their lives in Santa Barbara, California. Now long retired, Stanley thinks of himself as a “half-attentive homebody, like Voltaire’s Candide.” They watch the four-man crew pack up all their possessions, including their Mercedes SL convertible. But they soon discover that they have been the latest victims of a sophisticated scam, and all their worldly possessions, including heirlooms, expensive artwork and the more mundane possessions of your average householder, have been stolen. Even the clothes for their trip west were packed into two suitcases in the trunk of the convertible.Stanley still feels that he is first and foremost an assimilated Jew, the intervening decades notwithstanding. He can’t help but think back to the nine-year-old boy he was, arriving in New York, alone and penniless, all those years ago, and his survivor mentality kicks in. He determines to track down his possessions, and the men who prey on elderly, wealthy people such as himself and Rose. He has never spoken to his wife of his experiences as a child during the war in Europe, nor “the rage harbored, intact, since seven,” which now stand him in good steadThis is an excellent novel, the writing elegant, but it is much more powerful than merely a tale of a crime and criminals, and it is highly recommended.
What do You think about Moving Day: A Thriller (2014)?
Better than I thought - Main character was complex - loved the way it played out.
—tyler
made me cry, made me ponder, made me read past my bedtime. Well done.
—moroni
A great psychological thriller with an unusual plot
—Owen
An interesting thriller with twists.
—Smileybunnies
