Joshua and the Shadow of Death

When his best friend, Richard Brown, kills himself, Dr. Joshua Zeev is wracked by grief and self-doubt. Originally hired by the Browns to help their son, Harold, learn to deal with his episodes of fearsome rage, Joshua is devastated by the thought of his best friend suffering in silence and is determined to discover what—or who—drove Richard to take his own life. The only clue he has is the note Richard left, urging his son to find the men responsible and bring them to justice. Now Joshua must find the perpetrators of his best friend’s death before they destroy Harold and the rest of the family business.

The premise for McPherson’s book has potential, and one can definitely see the seeds of a series buried within it. However, this is the author’s first book, and it shows. No fluctuations in pace, forced emotional reactions and connections, and continuous narrative dumps are just the tip of the amateur-writer iceberg that this book continuously runs aground on. While it would be interesting to see if the author could sustain a series within this literary universe, the interest won’t last long unless the writing can also evolve.