Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Aurea Blue Press
As previously mentioned in the first installment of Rear view, it is easy to misconstrue the style or genre of a story when one allows first impressions rule. It is the age old adage; don’t judge a book by its cover. Kourtney Heintz book The Six Train to Wisconsin might be a book that suffers from just that, but there is much more to it.
Oliver is a man with a problem and possibly a solution, or one that he is fairly certain will work. That is if he can pull everything off without a hitch. The problem is his wife, Kai, a social worker with a fragile psyche. When one of her cases, a twelve year old girl, is killed by her own father, Oliver fears for her safety, as well as sanity. He then decides to execute his plan; to kidnap his own wife and move her to his old family home in Butternut, Wisconsin. There is only one issue; Kai is a psychic. It complicates things in their relationship, as well as some very interesting ones, and he has taught himself to create a shield from her penetration. Kai has a history of self destructive behavior due to her ability to connect with the various cases. The downside to this is that whenever one of her charges get her she spirals into a depression.
After the successful abduction Kai is first furious, but after a while takes it in stride and they begin to settle in. It soon becomes quite clear to Kai that Butternut houses deep dark secrets pertaining to Oliver’s past. Firstly it is the emergence of his first love Mickey and their passion is quickly rekindled. Secondly it is the relation between him and his deceased father, the town sheriff, in particularly some peculiar business regarding his best friend’s death. When Mickey’s son suddenly vanishes it threatens to bring all the old feelings back and Kai ends up in the center of it all, even being attacked by threatening thoughts from a mysterious person.
Originally released in 2013 this review might as well have been classified as a Rear view, but as it was re-released in 2016 it will be treated as a newer book.
It would be easy to cast off Heintz first installment of her Wisconsin series as romance novels aimed at women, a genre that several literary critics turn their nose at. The reason for this is several fold; the cover, that is reminiscent of something from the late 1970’s, as well as the description, that seems to be lifted from a lifetime movie. That is quite the mistake to make though. From the first sentences the reader is plunged into the darker side of what being telepathic might entail. It is a downside that is rarely explored in fiction, if at all. Mostly the issues presented are those of how the main character is barraged by images of murder and violence, not the emotionally charged reality that Kai experiences. The kidnapping by Oliver that follows the complications at home quickly escalates the story, until it reaches a kind of quiet solemnity once they settle in Butternut reminiscent of TV shows like Ed or Providence.
It is all capped off with the mystery of Oliver’s past and the disappearance of Mickey’s son, a way to ease it into a more dramatic Midwestern noir tale. The story is expertly told by Heintz and is, perhaps surprisingly to some, a page turner, leaping from Oliver to Kai’s perspective. It moves on easily and the language is well adapted to suit most types of readers, as does the mix of genres; from the romantic to the mysterious. This story has it all. The good news does not stop there as this is only the first installment of a series and if one enjoys The Six Train to Wisconsin, one would imagine that the books that follow are equally as enjoyable.
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