THE SOLACE OF DENIM

RATING:
FIVE STARS

WRITING STYLE:
Third Person Deep Limited
(Literary Fiction)

A few months after the murder of his best friend Luke, an old rock-n-roll jeans jacket keeps showing up in Joey's house. The coat belonged to Luke's father, police Detective Marek, who is grieving the loss of his son and looking for the killer. When Joey puts on the coat, he gets visions that seem to show elements of the murder. The more he learns, the more suspicions fall on him as the possible killer. Teenage Joey has bounced around foster homes for several years, after his father murdered his mother and brother, and almost killed him. Joey still bears the scars and the limp of that horrific crime. All he needs is a little help and understanding, neither of which are provided in the state-run foster care system. He has not only lost his best friend, but now believes he is being haunted. THE SOLACE OF DENIM is a gritty portrayal of one kid's struggle to survive when everything is stacked against him. Is he going crazy? Or is the ghost of Luke really speaking to him through that old jacket? Read the book to find out! Highly recommended! [FIVE STARS from Neon Guru]

Joey Kowalski has had just about every bad break in his young life, including family violence of the worst kind. When he finds himself in a new high school and yet another foster home, he’s finally lucky enough to meet neighbor Luke Marek, who becomes his good friend. When Luke is murdered, it throws Joey’s world into turmoil. Will Marek, Luke’s detective father, hounds Joey to discover what happened, his own life now a tragedy pulled from the headlines.
Author Kathy Otten takes the reader right inside Joey’s torn-up body and broken heart, and we struggle mightily with him as he tries to discover what happened to Luke. Why does the denim jacket Luke always wore keep turning up in Joey’s closet? Why does Joey sometimes see things from a mysterious perspective that’s not his own? Is he seeing something that Luke saw, or something that Joey himself did? Could he have killed Luke? The secrets unravel slowly in THE SOLACE OF DENIM, with pages that just don’t turn fast enough until Joey and Luke’s father must both face the deadly truth. Highly recommend! Five stars! [FIVE STARS from Suzi Taylor]

THE SOLACE OF DENIM by Kathy Otten is a gripping story of abuse, loss, and relationships. The main character, Joey, is dealing with an unhappy foster family life, and coping with the murder of his best friend, Luke. When Luke’s denim jacket mysteriously appears, Joey puts it on and hears and sees Luke. The jacket gives him visions that he struggles to understand and yet leads him closer and closer to danger and discovery. Kathy Otten masterfully weaves the emotions of Joey’s past trauma with his losses and his current situation so well that the reader is drawn into the plot, living, and feeling the events with the main character. This is a book you won’t put down until the end. I’m still in awe at this wonderfully crafted story. I highly recommend this book. [FIVE STARS from Janyce Brawn]

I'm not a young adult, but I found THE SOLACE OF DENIM engaging. The subject matter is edgy, and the pace keeps you turning the pages. I highly recommend it. [FIVE STARS from Allen Dale]

In Kathy Otten's masterful young adult mystery, THE SOLACE OF DENIM, truth is hard find and even more difficult to believe. Joey, a teenage survivor of a horrific domestic crime, has literally limped from foster home to foster home for years. After his best friend Luke is murdered, suspicion falls upon Joey. The one person who believes in him is Luke's father, Detective Marek. Mysteriously, Marek's old jean jacket, the one Luke liked to wear, shows up in Joey's closet. With the jacket come voices inside Joey's head and strange visions, as if someone is trying to show him who killed Luke. This gripping young adult book provides an intense journey with an ending that is truly stunning. [FIVE STARS from Amber Sparks]

THE SOLACE OF DENIM written by Kathy Otten [Young Adult Mystery (PG) 186 pages| Available in ebook and print | To read more, read an excerpt, and watch a video CLICK HERE...