Deaf Wish

Pretend you're deaf and seek to listen with your eyes
For the silent scream of vengeance your fractured heart denies.

‘Believe me, there is nothing bold or courageous in making the decision to sacrifice everyone and everything you’ve worked for in exchange for a new life thousands of miles away with a woman you hardly know.

Don’t kid yourself. All it takes is a heady mix of bravado, false conviction, cowardice and a total lack of conscience.

I should know. I did it.

Sixteen years have passed and an opportunity comes out of the blue to make amends, to rekindle the bonds of family I once too easily discarded. Or so I hoped.

But I was naïve.

I thought words could heal. They can’t. All they achieve is to distort the pain of rejection that feeds the prospect of revenge. Nor could I foresee the treacherous path ahead as I stumbled into the bitter secrets of all our pasts.

But I can now.

My hearing might be shot, my memory failed and I know I should have taken the advice and walked away. Somehow, I couldn’t. My grandson had given me a reason to exist and I needed to discover the truth. But, I learned to my cost that there are some people out there who will go to any lengths to make sure I do not.

My name? It’s Gilbert Hart, but call me Gil. Some people know me as Hartless.

’Deaf Wish is a dark, contemporary family drama set in Wales, Northern Portugal and Spain’s Costa de La Luz.As he faces the prospect of a reunion with his bitter ex-wife at their younger son’s wedding in Portugal, little does Gil realise that coming face to face with those he cast aside could be so explosive and trigger such violent reactions as he struggles to discover the truth that would join together the tragedies of the present and his past.

LOVEREADING VIEW ON DEAF WISH'Deaf Wish' by Geoff Cook is an intriguing, well-constructed, suspenseful thriller, which has everything from drug dealing, explosion, homosexuality and adultery to blackmail, incest, suicide and murder, culminating in an act of violent revenge. The story is narrated by Gilbert Hart, who, after 16 years, attempts an ill-fated reconciliation with his ex-wife and two sons, when he unexpectedly receives an invitation to a wedding in Portugal. His sons, however, have a dark and sinister ulterior motive for inviting him. The narrative moves seamlessly between multiple locations and dates, as we learn of Gil's affair with the family's Spanish au pair in 1992 and their subsequent move to Spain together. The ruthless and unnatural nature of the family he has become an, at best, tolerated member of, gradually becomes apparent. After a violent end to the relationship in 1996, Gil returns to the UK, where, in 2008, he decides, with expert manipulation from a former family friend, to attend his son, Albert's, marriage ceremony. It isn't long before this scenario also turns bitter, violent and treacherous. The story begins and ends in the present day, when Gil, now completely broken and betrayed by everyone he once cared for, wreaks vengeance on those he believes have got away with their contribution to his mental state and the crimes that caused it. The movement backwards and forwards in time and location has the potential to confuse the reader but the necessarily large cast of characters is so well drawn that we think we know them individually. However, they all guard secrets of a more or less unsavoury nature and only the children are actually what they seem to be. A very enjoyable and stimulating read.Drena Irish, A LoveReading AmbassadorLOVEREADING AMBASSADOR