A Review of Jericho Road
By LMReviews on Jun 27, 2010 in Multicultural Lit Reviews
Set along a country road called Jericho in south Georgia , author Icy Snow Blackstone tells the story of blooming interracial love between Lindsey Conyers and Dr. Logan Redhawk in the 1970’s against the backdrop of racial and sexual intolerance and the post Vietnam War era.
Dr. Redhawk, who is serving his obstetric residency at the town hospital, finds himself quite taken by Lindsey Conyers when he treats her after a car accident. His infatuation begins a friendship between them yet, he never hides his deeper intentions. Despite warnings from his roommate, a fellow doctor in residence, and the cool hate-filled reception he encounters when he picks up Lindsey for their first date, the couple’s relationship continued to grow out in the open.
Unlike Lindsey and her beau, the rest of the community has plenty to hide and protect. Lindsey’s oldest brother Wade, no longer able to enjoy newly-wedded bliss with his new bride Marcella, begins secret psychiatric sessions to overcome romantic feelings for war buddy who died protecting him during the war. Assuming her new groom is being unfaithful Marcella lures her brother-in-law into a torrid affair all the while the Conyers family patriarch blackmails a naïve employee’s daughter into satisfying the urges to which is his wife will no longer succumb. Rage, hatred and sexual frustration come to a head when patriarch Hamp Conyers arrives at Dr. Redhawk’s residence to physically persuade him to stay away from his daughter. When lusts and secrets begin to consume all involved, everything comes to light but not before one brother fatally wounds another.
Blackstone’s talent stirs the reader into caring for the Conyers brothers despite their faults and causes you question their struggle between being tempted and doing what’s right. One moment the reader things Wade is too good to be true and just want you think you’ve spotted his true nature, you discover he was being true to himself all along.
While the romance between Lindsey and Logan was sweet, I found myself much more interested in the subplot of Wade, his brother and his wife. Certainly, that storyline was more titillating, but I was anxious to see how the scenario would resolve itself, especially as more players were added to the mix. Blackstone did an excellent job of showing how love, sex, secrets and hate could damage an old-fashioned southern town and its principle citizens. For that Jericho Road earns five Sable Seals.
Publisher: Lyrical Press
