Seth Freeman works for an ad agency in a job he hates. He also dislikes his wife, her relatives, and his life in general. One day, with nothing much else to do, he watches explicit videos of girls on the Internet, a favorite pastime. When he inadvertently clicks on an ad on the side of the screen, he finds himself on a dating site. From there he hooks up with Nastasia, first via online messaging, then in person. Nastasia is a law school student who makes money on the side “dating” older men, and she tells Seth she’ll do anything for a small monthly allowance. Seth immediately becomes obsessed with her, the intoxicating sex, and her carefree lifestyle. They spend a considerable amount of time together over the summer enjoying each other’s company while she’s on break from school. When Nastasia goes back to college, Seth’s life goes back to being mundane and boring, and when he realizes his experience with her has virtually changed him, he adopts a new outlook on life that leads him down a wanton path.

J.C. Harach’s THE FREEMAN is a well-written novella with a unique and compelling plot that is principally simple—a man longs for something more out of life than what he’s getting, and Harach does an exemplary job increasing stakes for the protagonist throughout the story. However, due to an inordinate amount of narrative exposition, the hook comes late in the book, which may cause some to lose interest. Substituting a portion of this exposition with deeper internalization by the protagonist, better characterization for the secondary character Nastasia, and greater dramatic content would make the plot more profound. An emphasis on setting, for example, could potentially bring additional meaning to the story by influencing character behavior, foreshadowing events, and amplifying character emotions. Harach’s writing style flows well and is easy to understand. His reference to most characters by their position or relationship to the protagonist rather than their names is unconventional but works well. It should be noted that the book does contain some vulgar language and explicit sex scenes that may be offensive to some readers.

Author J.C. Harach artfully turns a seemingly simplistic plot into a provocative and potentially controversial story in THE FREEMAN.

~Florence Osmund for IndieReader