Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9781592992768
Edition: 1st
ISBN: 1592992765
Label: Inkwater Press
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: Inkwater Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 489
Publication Date: 2007-08-26
Publisher: Inkwater Press
Studio: Inkwater Press

Following the tragic death of his girlfriend, the protagonist returns from North Africa heartbroken and restless. He takes to the road but outside of Wheeling, West Virginia is knocked unconscious and kidnapped, awakening days later to find himself in a Texas insane asylum, charged with murder of a police officer.

DeVilliers County Blues is the story of four very different young people, all victimized by a bizarre multimillion dollar Organized Crime human warehouse scheme, banding together against terrible odds to win their freedom and then strike back at their oppressors. It is the story of courage, love and determination...of human beings enduring to the limit of their strength...and then enduring even more.

Customer Rating:
Summary: You Must Be Crazy To Miss This One
Comment: Devilliers County Blues: 1972 picks up where Hell's Quest: 1971 ends. If you haven't read HQ yet, what are you waiting for? I digress, let me return to Devilliers. Once again John finds himself searching for purpose at the start of a new year. He simply wants to find purpose and healing for a torn soul. On his way to an unannounced visit to friends, his life quite literally goes all kinds of crazy.

Our hero finds himself locked up tight in a mental institution, where he is informed of the charges of murder against him. Inside he forms an unexpected alliance that must put aside hatred and misunderstanding if they ever hope to see the light of day again. Soon the improvised teammates discover escape is only the beginning. The truth around them is crazier than they can ever know.

Follow John and his Salt and Pepper Gang as they fight against insanity, the police, the media, and the Mafia. The odds are squarely stacked against them. Surely death is the only way out. You will find yourself wrapped tight at each twist and turn. When the mystery is finally solved, the ending is quite literally explosive. Now you can join the Salt and Pepper Gang and cheer them on as they battle impossible odds. The year 1973 promises to be one to remember, if only anyone lives to see it.

PATRICK RALEY is the author of the mystery, detective novel entitled "Precedent of Justice". Find out why Publisher's Weekly calls him "the next John Grisham."

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Mind like a pretzel
Comment: I read this work of John Cassell's out of order. Hell's Quest takes place in the year before Devillier's County Blues, but I was taking the book on vacation and HQ is a larger tome and the airlines are getting picky about weight limits so in went the smaller of the two volumes. Now I am anxiously awaiting my flight home so I can start on HQ!
I have become friends with Brother John through the Amazon Shorts program and he is an amusing, insightful and creative correspondent. I have also read some of his other books and stories and thoroughly enjoyed them. But not even his earlier works prepared me for the thrill ride that is DCB. I like to write, and read, stories that have a twist in the tail (or even tale). DCB has surprises in abundance, combined with the usual cast of believeable and sympathethic characters and a clear feel for the times in which the action takes place. John weaves in political and social commentary without ever taking away from the story or, for that matter, even seeming to comment at all.
John can also write effective erotic passages without the anatomical detail beloved by some authors....read the account of the protagonist's encounter with Luella in the guard tower and see if you agree. He can write just as effectively of violence without recourse to graphic detail....read of the capture at the farm house and tell me that you don't feel the horror.
As I said, I have become friends with John and some may view this review as slightly biased. For the nitpicker, there are flaws to be found, but show me a four hundred page book without flaws and I'll shake your hand. If you want a book that entertains, makes you think, recalls a turbulent time with astonishing clarity, twists your mind like a pretzel with its surprises and plot twists and, finally, leaves you satisfied as you close its final page.....this is a book for you.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Best of the Best
Comment: John W. Cassell is the "Best of the Best" - a great author. He's witty, captivating, makes you cry and most importantly, he makes you laugh. One can never go wrong reading John W. Cassell. And "Devilliers County Blues 1972" is just another wonderful book by this amazing author.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: A THRILLER OF THE FIRST WATER!
Comment: Discovered this book quite by accident whilst visiting the product page of Up The Down Staircase. Its author had submitted a review I found to be literary in its quality, logical in its argument. So I purchased DeV.

On one level this is the story of an individual trapped, not knowing how he came to be so, amongst others in an insane asylum. On another, it is the story of the legal system of America in 1972, the various decision-makers within it, and the author's un-stayed opinion of their worth and performance.

On both levels Mr. Cassell does an outstanding job of relating a thrilling cops and robbers type of story, a story complicated by the fact we really don't know who the good chaps are, do we? Indeed the reader must needs make that judgment for himself as the surface viewpoint pits a distinguished American entrepreneur and philanthropist against people of not at all similar social rank.

The judgement is not all difficult at the end, but the plot is compelling, John and his fellow escapees sympathetic as the drama unfolds. I might add there is an excellent collection of secondary characters who add considerable spice to the story. These include the solicitor Horowitz, the policemen Gariglia, Gardner, Marcuso and Pelligrini, the siren Louella, the bright and fetching Lindsey, not to mention Woodstock and Moonbeam!

A few surprises, some grisly psychological touches, some very clever villians and an overall winner of a story makes DeVilliers County Blues a must-read.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: A True Thriller-Well Worth The Price
Comment: Discovered this book quite by accident whilst visiting the product page of Up The Down Staircase. Its author had submitted a review I found to be literary in its quality, logical in its argument. So I purchased DeV.

On one level this is the story of an individual trapped, not knowing how he came to be so, amongst others in an insane asylum. On another, it is the story of the legal system of America in 1972, the various decision-makers within it, and the author's un-stayed opinion of their worth and performance.

On both levels Mr. Cassell does an outstanding job of relating a thrilling cops and robbers type of story, a story complicated by the fact we really don't know who the good chaps are, do we? Indeed the reader must needs make that judgment for himself as the surface viewpoint pits a distinguished American entrepreneur and philanthropist against people of not at all similar social rank.

The judgement is not all difficult at the end, but the plot is compelling, John and his fellow escapees sympathetic as the drama unfolds. I might add there is an excellent collection of secondary characters who add considerable spice to the story. These include the solicitor Horowitz, the policemen Gariglia, Gardner, Marcuso and Pelligrini, the siren Louella, the bright and fetching Lindsey, not to mention Woodstock and Moonbeam!

A few surprises, some grisly psychological touches, some very clever villians and an overall winner of a story makes DeVilliers County Blues a must-read.

---