Book Review: Dry Heat
Dry Heat. Len Joy. BQB Publishing. 2022. Paperback and eBook. 346 pages.
Reviewed by Florence Osmund.
Eighteen-year-old Joey Blade is an exceptional footballer in high school who earns a full-ride athletic scholarship to college. He celebrates his accomplishments at an end-of-the-year bonfire party with his new girlfriend, Wendy. But things go very wrong after the party when TJ, a friend of Wendy’s, takes potshots at a police car. TJ flees before the officers ever notice him, and Joey is wrongfully charged with attempted murder.
Being charged with such a serious crime when he is innocent is bad enough for Joey. Wendy’s father sending her off to a Swiss finishing school to evade speaking the truth is devastating. Losing his scholarship only adds insult to injury. Learning his previous girlfriend is pregnant ensures the end of his golden-boy years have ended.
Dry Heat contains all the elements of an impactful suspense novel. Stakes for the protagonist get higher and higher as the story unfolds. Author Len Joy cleverly creates apprehension throughout the narrative by instilling the feeling that something is likely to go wrong before it actually happens.
The Joey Blade character’s personality and emotions are intuitively revealed—through his body language, actions, thoughts, vulnerabilities, and dialogue—allowing readers to figure him out for themselves, therefore enabling them to feel empathy for Joey and a strong sense of kinship with him.
Len Joy is a gifted storyteller whose writing style is fluid with a good balance of description, action, dialogue, and exposition. The book is a well-written, well-structured, and well-paced novel, with enough cliffhanger chapter endings to keep readers captivated.
The plot is believable, interesting, and unusual. Several subplots are seamlessly woven into the main story, each with distinct narrative arcs. A satisfying ending ties up loose ends, shows how the protagonist has transformed as a result of his life experiences, and offers a bit of a surprise.