The year is 1970, and Colin is preparing for his first year in college. His life has been anything but normal, with his father Tommy having mysteriously disappeared and his closest companion being an amnesiac ghost named Pete who came into his life a year ago. Then everything changes when Colin overhears his cousin Katie discussing something with his stepfather. She believes she has seen Tommy nearby recently. But then she becomes able to see and hear Pete, and realizes what Colin (who is blind) hasn’t: it was Pete she was seeing. The ghost and Colin’s missing father share a striking family resemblance.
Together, Colin and Katie begin piecing together Pete’s background, tracing his connection to their own family’s troubles. As they travel from town to town, chasing both literal and metaphorical ghosts, Colin must navigate the watchful eyes of his mother Hannah and stepfather Ben. The two seem to be keeping even more secrets from him and from each other. With a dire anniversary approaching and knowledge of Tommy’s whereabouts becoming clearer, the two cousins dodge danger and race against the clock to get the answers their entire family seeks.
TELLING A THUMPER takes its name from Pete’s outdated slang for spinning a lie: something all the characters in the book do at some point. Multiple themes work through the story, the most prominent being the lies loved ones tell to protect each other (and themselves). But telling those lies leads to more pain, and it’s not until all the skeletons are out of everyone’s closets that Colin’s family can begin to heal.
Author Paul M. Fleming uses Colin’s perspective to unique advantage. Much like the teenager, the reader navigates the world of TELLING A THUMPER through sounds, smells, and feelings. Dialogue will pop up out of nowhere with no defined speaker. Characters are never described visually unless someone is speaking to Colin (with one major exception), leading to these people being defined in the reader’s mind solely by personality. Settings are still vivid and immersive; one scene, for instance, is brought to life through the sun on Colin’s face, the call of a flock of birds, and the rough wood of the dock under his hands. Colin’s blindness is always presented as a simple fact rather than a burden or a blessing, at least in the narrative itself. Characters within the story go to both extremes, either calling him “strong” or implying that his blindness is karma for his father’s bad behavior, but the text itself never seeks an interpretation beyond simple fact. It’s pleasing to see this in fiction, as disabled people are often presented as either victims or superheroes.
The only downside to TELLING A THUMPER is that there are many instances of misplaced or missing commas and quotation marks. A few are to be expected, even with the most conscientious writers and editors, but this was a constant issue that made some passages confusing to follow. However, these proofreading issues don’t stop the novel from being an enchanting, exciting, and heartwarming read.
An uncommon coming-of-age story with a unique perspective, TELLING A THUMPER by Paul M. Fleming will keep readers guessing right up to the final page.
~Kara Dennison for IndieReader