The surgeon dresses the wound...

... But God heals the patient. "
This is very much a book which can succeed only if the reader is a fully committed believer in God and, preferably, the Christian faith. Five characters in Goldman, Texas, one female, the others male, reach a crisis point in their lives and have to discover a way to go on. With the exception of Randy, a former conman now working as assistant to one of the others, all have a standing in the community: three are religious ministers and the fourth is the local doctor. Each finds a little ease talking with another in the group and, of course, in prayer. The story felt forced, motivations only slightly touched upon but already related actions were often repeated, taking space in this novella which would have been better emp!oyed with furthering the characterisation. Although most definitely not saying that prayer automatically puts things right according to our own desires, it very much pushes hard the idea that 'we are all part of God's master plan' and we should change our attitudes rather than telling God what to do. All very laudible, perhals, just far too much of it for someone wanting a story rather than a sermon.

Bill Nevitt is a talented narrator, with a warm presence, pleasant accent, good, nuanced articulation and the ability to bring life to characters through his individual voicings of them. But even be was unable to make this short book of personal life crises feel meaningful an real. Unlike Richard Mabry's other works, it was too much a long winded parable instead.

I was fortunate in being freely gifted with a complimentary copy of Bitter Pill by the rights holder, at my request. Thank you. It was an easy read and the ideas certainly had merit: it was just too heavy handed with the religion, too vague about the mundane motivations

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