Fiction Review

Traci
by Wells Earl Draughon
ISBN-10: 0595262287
Review by Heather Froeschl

How is it that six people, some of whom are complete strangers to each other, affect each other's lives to the point of no return? Life happens, and for some it happens in a big way. Wells Earl Draughon has done it again. He has taken a storyline and created a world where the characters come to life and make you think about them until the last page has been read.

Steven Bates is minding his own business, falling in love with his attorney girlfriend, when out of the blue a young girl knocks on his door. She claims to be his long lost daughter, returned after eight years of being out of his life, virtually in hiding with her mother. Steve is thrilled if not flabbergasted that his daughter is back. But what happened to her mother? And why is it that this girl seems to be hiding something?

After eight years Steve jumps at the thought that this IS his daughter, Shirley, returned to him. However, Traci is really the daughter of a cold, selfish woman and a domineering, disgusting, controlling stepfather. The real Shirley Bates is still out there somewhere. Coincidentally, Shirley's mother is just about ready to return to the life she knew before they ran away. Her therapy is helping her to get over her issues and she takes the first step in reuniting Shirley and her dad and recreating the little family that they had. Is Steve desperate enough to get his daughter back into his home to put up with her crazy mother too? Is he unselfish enough to thwart the real love in his heart? And what will Traci's parents do about the situation, being that their 14-year-old daughter is living with a strange middle-aged man?

Draughon takes the raw emotions of his characters and makes them laugh, cry and wring their hands over the plot. He leaves the reader in a state of suspension when they dare put down the book to eat dinner. You will find yourself reading through the night in order to find out what happens to these people who have become all too real, if not a bit crazy. His descriptive writing and engaging dialogue make for an entertaining read. It is a short-lived distraction from the real world and our real lives to read one of Draughon's books. You won't be disappointed.