Joseph Souza’s new novel will keep you up at night

I really enjoy Joseph Souza’s novels, and his latest book, Pray for the Girl, is quite the story. Souza has both a great imagination and a real talent for writing novels that will keep you up at night.

I really don’t understand how a guy who was an intelligence analyst for the Drug Enforcement Agency’s organized crime unit in Washington DC becomes an award-winning writer of both fiction and essays which are published throughout the country. But Souza has done that.

Souza lives in Portland, Maine, with his wife and two children and the setting for his new books is a place called Fawn Grove, Maine. The main character, Lucy, had her legs blown off in Afghanistan and spent years as a chef in New York City before returning to her home town of Fawn Grove.

That small Maine town is in turmoil, partly because of an influx of immigrant Muslims. The story includes everything from a corrupt policeman to some very nasty teenagers. Yes, there’s plenty of murder and mayhem in this novel.

One reviewer called it scary and disturbing and another labeled it a subtle powder keg. I can agree with both although I have to confess, I really enjoyed the story and found it a very compelling read.

Souza’s book was published by Kensington Publishing Corp., one of our country’s independent publishers.

I can’t give away the ending but I can promise that you will not stop reading until the final paragraph.

 

 

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.