Eustace The Monk

This tome earns one star for the colored cover. As for the content, "lively read"??... this book is as interesting as reading your local phone book but without the suspense.
Let's just say the "healthy imagination" only wove together the few threads into an incohesive jumble. The author must have thought he was getting paid by the word. A relative must have written the previous review, or else this book was self-published.

I have gotten more enjoyment from reading and writing review than got ever reading the book. Michael R. Davis in possession of 300 and 67 pages of ruminations on the metaphorical figure of Eustace Busquet: a manor Norman lord, monk and a pirate. Flatness of the story dangerous enough for sale: it's like letting a chimpanzee loose in the NORAD control room. Davis is such a genius of literary incompetence that even his most innocent passages invite feature-length essays. I'll give you an example, drawn at random from Eustace the Monk. On page 284, Davis is to tell us about manor Normand lord dressed in women clothing. Here's what he says:
"Eustace replied with a female's uncertainty, "Never have I let a man fuck me that way...but for a four-pence...,letting the sentence trail as if he had agreed. As Eustace began to mount the horse, he lifted a leg and let out a fart."
Michael R. Davis is a Joyce or a Flaubert in reverse, incapable of rendering even the smallest details without genius.

The difference between Michael R. Davis Davis and an ordinary bad writer is that an ordinary bad writer will, say, call some businessman a shark and have him say some tired, uninspired piece of dialogue: Davis will have him spout it.
Anyway. Nice to hear from you Gwenyth: at least reviewing your dad's book and giving him 5 star. What a proud daughter! How is your dad doing moving back with your family and back on practicing the law in Arkansas? Hmm that murder case that took: 3 people shot and two women raped and shot at the liquor store.... Must be a story for Michael R. Davis new book! What a men what a story! That's the whole plot right there. If the underlying message is all that interests you, read no further, because that's all there is.

vanity press through and through ... no way is this author making a living from this drivel. maybe he has a talent, maybe not, but it's definitely not writing - turgid, aimless, superficial.