Cole Dust by Michael Maxwell

One of the nice things that have happened since I starting reviewing books and things is being asked by independent authors and manufacturers to review their items. One day I got an email from Michael Maxwell asking if I would read and review his book Diamonds and Cole which I thoroughly enjoyed so he sent me more of his books. At this point I think I have read and reviewed 6 of his books, 4 of which are in the Cole Sage series. Cole is a newspaper journalist. Rather than being a hard drinking, chain smoking guy that many journalist are portrayed, he is different. It is hard to put your finger on it, but he is different as he defends and helps the helpless, finds the truth behind lies and is always willing to lend a hand as he keeps his positive viewpoint through out. Even though he gets a 'girlfriend' in the third book, he hates calling her his girlfriend at their age, that is what she is. Even after 8 months of dating, they are still not falling into bed at a moments notice (some novels seem to have a couple having sex before they have even changed name or phone numbers which I hate) as matter of fact, they aren't having sex at all, just appreciating each others company. As I said Cole is a different character and if you would prefer to a read books with minimal swearing, smoking, drinking and sex, yet still have a gripping tale, this books might just be for you. Below is the Amazon review I just did for the latest book I read: Cole Dust.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I was gifted this Kindle book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the fourth book in the Cole Sage series; it leads us more into Cole’s life and some of the things that made him who he is today. Right before leaving on a planned vacation he receives an envelope that had been forwarded many times due to his having moved from Chicago to San Francisco. In the letter and subsequent phone call to the attorney that sent it, Cole finds out that he has inherited property in Oklahoma and must reside in the house for at least 30 days to avoid horrendous inheritance taxes. So he changes vacation plans and heads to Oklahoma.  He comes to find a house in need of a lot of TLC and a yard piled high with tumbleweeds. H also finds a neighbor that is the neighbor we all want, who immediately jumped in to help him bring back the house to the point he should be able to sell it.

In the house Cole finds a trunk in the attic which turns out to be full of notebooks his grandfather had written over the course of his life. His grandfather had died when Cole was around 5 years old so he never had a chance to meet him nor had his father told him much about him. Cole being an only child, with his parents gone had felt alone in the world but in a prior book had meet his daughter that he had never known he had as well as his granddaughter. Just having those two in his life felt like riches, so finding even one notebook from his grandfather felt like a treasure discovered, but he found many more than more than one. So between fixing up his house, Cole learned about the family that he had never known about.

This in many ways was a touching book in that we learned from one family what the depression, the dust bowl the Spanish flu did to the family and the small town they lived in. We see what alcoholism, bigotry and poverty can do to a family. This was an interesting book that brings insight into the life of a family. It made me wish that somehow I could find something along the order of a stack of notebooks or diaries from my grandparents as I never have really heard their background and they are now no longer with us. Sometimes just knowing what past generations went through helps us to understand why we become who we do.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I hope you will take the chance to read one of his books and enjoy them as well as I do.