Book Review
Mad Max: Unintended
Consequences
By
Betsy Ashton
Reviewed by Wayne L. White
Betsy Ashton's first novel portends well for her budding career as an
author. From the start, Ms. Ashton engages the reader in the
upper-class New York Sac's Fifth Avenue world of grandmothers who
take pleasure in their station in life and the money that supports
their material desires. But life has another role for Maxine Davies.
An automobile accident puts her daughter Merry in the hospital with
serious injuries and Max rushes to Richmond, Virginia and her
daughter's bedside where she takes over her daughter's role in
raising her two grandchildren, Emilie and Alex. A son-in-law whose
work keeps him away from home for protracted periods complicates
matters and Max immediately finds herself the sole caretaker of her
precocious grandchildren―not so
demanding, but ties Max to
Richmond while she yearns for her friends and the concrete canyons of
New York.
When Merry is finally released
from the hospital, she is mentally incapable of tending to the needs
of her children, leaving it all to Max who clearly states that she's
done enough child raising for one lifetime. Meanwhile, Merry has
developed a relationship with a plastic surgeon who has a mesmerizing
hold on his patient and has taken control of Merry's life and
decisions.
The delicious plot thickens at
this point and I won't be a spoiler. But as I mentioned to Betsy, “My
Kindle is about to explode. Someone is going to die!” Max and her
grandchildren suddenly become the hunted and the hunters. You won't
put it down, so don't plan to read it to calm your mind before sleep.
From a population of well-developed characters to the scenic
background of New York and Richmond to the world of grandchildren
with special abilities, Ms. Ashton adorns each passage with
page-turning urgency. Mad Max: Unintended Consequences
not only satisfies, but leaves the reader impatiently waiting for the
next chapter in the life of five-star Mad Max.
