5 Nov 2015

TRIAGE ~ THE DIARY OF A CELESTIAL SOCIAL WORKER.


TRIAGE ~ THE DIARY OF A CELESTIAL SOCIAL WORKER by P.J. NASH.

BACK COVER BLURB: Retired headmaster Ronnie Hannigan is an ordinary man who finds himself in extraordinary circumstances. The victim of a bomb attack in Northern Ireland, he is left literally hanging between life and death.

Ronnie finds himself facing an afterlife version of Catch 22, where only by helping those in trouble to help themselves, can he reach his final destination and, finally find some peace.

FIRST SENTENCE {'Ronnie'}: Where does pain end and grief begin?

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 3}: So, there I was in the kitchen in my Y-fronts and socks, polishing my shoes.

SOURCE: A FaceBook '500 Like Book Giveaway' win courtesy of the author who offered a copy to Read And Relax Book Reviews.

MY THOUGHTS: The story of a man caught up in a bomb-blast ten years previously. Ronnie Hannigan lies prone in a bed, his wife by his side, a plethora of machines keeping his mortal remains warm, his brain alive.

A Civil Servant now 'working' for the Department of External Affairs as a celestial social worker, a guardian angel if you will, who in order to move on must help others in need.

Such a promising premise, I don't know if it was me expecting too much but for some reason Triage fell short. 

Yes, in main protagonist, Ronnie, we had an interesting character but as with the others I found myself unable to engage with him. And yes, a unique, and to a certain degree thought provoking read but rather surprisingly I remained rather untouched by it and certainly didn't find myself reflecting on it as I had expected.


10 comments:

Barbara said...

That’s a wonderful first-line – I can see it featuring in TV quizzes in a few years.
What a shame the rest of the story fell a bit flat, and it sounded so promising too.

Melliane said...

It's always difficult when we expect too much...

Unknown said...

can be a bit disappointing when you find a character hard to engage with

Anonymous said...

This one doesn't appeal!

Kelly said...

Perhaps a bit of a "It's a Wonderful Life" theme? I'm not sure anything can improve on that movie, so it doesn't really appeal to me that much. Sorry it was a disappointment for you.

Shooting Stars Mag said...

Sorry this one didn't really work for you! It does have an interesting premise. You always share such unique titles - thanks!

-Lauren

Yanting Gueh said...

While reading your review, my mind kept going back to wondering why celestial beings needed social workers. Then I got to the guardian angel part and ah ... Though it's not my kind of story, I'm sorry it didn't work as well for you as you'd hoped.

Brian Joseph said...

The plot is an old story that has been used a lot in the past. As others have pointed out, It's a Wonderful Life is Just one example.

With that, really good books can still be written using these time tested plots. Too bad that this did not really work for you.

Melissa (Books and Things) said...

Yea, you can have a great plot, but if you cannot connect to the character, it makes it hard to really get into the book.

Literary Feline said...

I really like the premise of this one, but am sorry to hear it didn't work well.