- austrianspencer
The Pale White - by Chad Lutzke
The Pale White, by Chad Lutzke, opens with a fantastic opening paragraph, which I’m loathe to print here because I don’t want to diminish it through repetition for when you encounter it yourselves – suffice it to say it makes you sit up a little straighter, feel uncomfortable, and makes you aware that you are thrown headfirst into trauma. It sets the tone and the mood begs the reader to continue, to find out how far that trauma goes, and doesn’t stop or skip a beat.
Lutzke is the king of character – his readers bleed along with the fictional victims that inhabit his books. It is so easy to identify with their emotions, even as we are aghast at their situations. The forced sex slave trade is the setting for the book, two women and a child are our victims. Lutzke pans the camera away at the appropriate moments when telling their history, but make no mistake, the trauma shines through in his writing.
I can’t tell you any more of the story without spoiling something – the book is short, and blasts along at an incredible pace, as our trio formulate and execute an escape plan long overdue. Whether it works or not, the aftermath of their attempt, the invisible psychological ties – all of it adds up to a novella that disturbs wonderfully.
As with all of Chad’s work, hope is an underlying theme, and the realization of change for the better also makes its presence felt in the reader’s ravaged emotions.
This was great. Chad has a gift for taking horrific situations and lending them empathy. He injects good into his stories, shows kindness, presents both sides of human nature and passes no comment, gives us heroes and heroines to cheer on and make our own judgment call on their actions, both brutal and forgiving. It’s a level of trust in the reader that really gets under your skin.
And that opener. Fantastic.
This is an easy 5 out of 5 ⭐ ‘s. Again, I couldn’t get enough.
You can buy The Pale White, by clicking on the appropriate Amazon link, below.
You can visit Chad's website, HERE.
You can find Chad on Facebook, HERE.
You can find Chad on Instagram, HERE.
You can find Chad on Twitter, HERE.
You can find Chad on TikTok, HERE.
You can find Chad on YouTube, HERE.
