As befits a work that was completed while the author was going through a lengthy recovery from a bout of Covid, TO HELP JUST ONE by Thusitha L. Perera has something of the feel of a self-help book about it. The mindset and mental struggles of its main characters take center stage in a story that has substantial appeal, but ultimately suffers from its slight plot. The three central characters, Lawrence, Jonathan, and Tegan are childhood friends, now grown up. Lawrence is a put-upon office professional, an organization wonk who holds SWOT analyses, effectiveness metrics, and performance indicators in high esteem, and has the habit of analyzing interactions with others to a minute degree. Jonathan, who was exposed to the highs of gambling as a child, now carries with him an obsessive, all-or-nothing approach to life that pervades his behavior on the exercise course just as it does at the blackjack table or in front of a sports game with a credit card in hand. Tegan is another office worker whose emotional pain far outweighs that she experienced after sustaining a serious hand injury during a game of netball.

The novel is written in the present tense, which gives the action a certain immediacy. But most of the interest derives from an attention to the internal workings of the main characters that approaches the forensic. The author is fond of synecdoche and of presenting his protagonists’ internal monologues. They all struggle in their lives, but Jonathan’s story is, perhaps, the most affecting. It is painful to watch his descent into that most peculiar, because abstract, of addictions, gambling. Perera describes the adrenaline rush that comes from having skin in the game in urgent, bald language.

However, while this time spent on characterization and motivations is well spent, it is not matched by the plot. What we have here is the stories of three essentially unrelated characters – they interact with one another here and there, but not in ways that are particularly important. Each deals with their problems in their own ways. Psychologists are consulted; podcasts are listened to; coping strategies are brainstormed. But these battles are fought by each character in their own time, without any pivotal interaction with the others. The novel could have been split into three novellas, each concerned with one character, without losing anything of substance.

And yet there is a larger absence here: what’s missing is tension. The characters begin in difficult positions; they hit rock bottom; they recover. There are no complications, no unexpected twists and turns, and, beyond the psychological, no stakes. This hampers the work considerably. Forward motion without the intrigue of dilemmas, quandaries, and Hobson’s choices has all the narratological interest of a maze whose way out is marked by a piece of string. Inasmuch as there is ample evidence of a good grasp of character and natural dialog here, TO HELP JUST ONE shows great promise; a good, strong plot will elevate subsequent works to the level of which Perera is plainly capable.

Thusitha L. Perera’s TO HELP JUST ONE has well-drawn characters whose struggles threaten to overwhelm them, but the story is hampered by weak plotting.

~Craig Jones for IndieReader