T.M. Doran

Iota. T.M. Doran. 2014. Doran is always mentioned in lists of contemporary Catholic novelists, but I’d never read him. Doug and Marinella lent me two of his books, and I must say I really enjoyed this one. It is told in a flashback, that occurs from November through December 1945 in a Russian prison camp near Berlin. The “prison” is an abattoir so the stench of swine underlays every other smell. Jan Skala, a Czech journalist has been arrested and put in a cage with a Pole. Jan gradually gets to know the other prisoners, a priest, a French poet, and a woman among others. All claim they do not why they’ve been arrested. Mistrust, fear, cold, lack of food imprison them all. The guards play one against the other. Prisoners disappear and new ones arrive. Jan is questioned repeatedly by the major, but claims he doesn’t know what the major wants to know. The tension bills slowly in this bleak story, but in the end we see the humanity of some of the characters when it is least expected.… (mehr)

An interesting thought provoking novel that puts a possible new spin on the life of J.R.R. Tolkien and his works.

All that I knew going in to this was that this was a special book and that a Tolkien fan should enjoy it. I didn't realize that the book itself was, in a way, about the man himself. A fun fictional piece that follows John through his life guided by an amazing discovery. There's action, espionage, and mystery aplenty in this novel and I'll leave it at that as I don't want to spoil it to much. The characters are vibrant and unique and the occasional appearance of other historical figures is also very cool.

Overall, and enjoyable read that I would recommend to other fans of Tolkien especially if you've read any biographical material on the man and have a rudimentary knowledge of his major works: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.… (mehr)

A man finds a mysterious box and inside the box is a book. The man is a professor of languages and he spends years trying to decipher the strange language of the book. The book and the box are so unusual that he realizes he needs to keep them secret and protected from some people who may use the knowledge contained in these items for evil purposes. That’s the short version of T. M. Doran’s book Toward the Gleam, it seems like a simple concept, but there is nothing simple about this story. I’d compare it to Sherlock Holmes meets JR Tolkien.

The professor finds the box after he returns from WWI, his wife is the only one he shows the box to—the rest of the people, he needs help from, are told things cryptically and then the author puts in some famous and infamous characters with tidbits of clues to keep you guessing about who they are. WWII is looming and Hitler is coming into power, there are movements rising in Europe that are dangerous and one particular man who is so treacherous that the professor and his family could be murdered at anytime. I liked the concept of the book, but there were some things that left me with questions and the author also left a few loose strands at the end of the book. I gave 4 stars to this one and read it on Kindle.… (mehr)