Normal edition by Scott J Holliday Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks
Download As PDF : Normal edition by Scott J Holliday Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks 
He's not like you. He's normal.
South Carolina, 1879. Prison guard Paul Constantine's quiet world is fractured when convicted murderer, Roy Pellerin--a childhood friend and sideshow performer born with alligator skin--pulls off a seemingly impossible escape.
Now Paul must track Roy down before former judge and haunted insomniac, Frank Ledger, delivers Roy to his own brand of shotgun justice.
How far can Roy run, and for how long? Whose quest will end when the terrifying past comes roaring into the present? And whose will end in the grave?
Drawing on his visionary talent, Scott J. Holliday delivers a gripping historical thriller about the bonds of friendship, the unexpected forms of love, and the stories found in our scars.
Normal edition by Scott J Holliday Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks
Scott J. Holliday's first novel is a delightful surprise. Set in the late 1870s, when travelling circuses with their roadside attractions of freaks were common, it has the feel of authentic Americana. Holliday captures the ambience, the language, and the random cruelty of rural life in that era.The story begins with Roy Pellerin, a sideshow attraction for his scale-like skin, who is sent to prison for murder. There he is subjected to unimaginable cruelties and kept in solitary confinement. The cell, a literal hole dug into the ground outside the main prison building, is exposed to the elements. He is not expected to survive this punishment long. With only a bucket to be used for both fresh water and for his own toilet, he is taunted continually by the guards, except for one, Paul Constantine, a childhood friend. Paul mysteriously observes from a distance but does not make himself known to Roy or let the other guards know he is a friend of the prisoner.
When the other guards are not watching Roy, he hardens his body by exercise and his fists by delivering blows on the earthen wall. When they come by to change the bucket or to drop food, he pretends that he is weak and on the verge of death. He practices his death each day as well, holding his breath, reducing his pulse to a bare murmur.
One day it finally appears to the guards that he has died. They take him outside the prison walls to bury him and he suddenly rises up and attacks. One of the guards, his former childhood friend Paul, must now track him down and bring him back, alive or dead. But he has a conflict. He became friends with Roy when his parents brought him into their home after Roy's mother's death. How can he kill Roy or, even worse, return him to the brutal life in the hole?
The back story of how Roy was born with a congenital birth defect, how his mother died, and how he came to join the circus as a sideshow freak is both sad and compelling. Born into a poor family with a rare skin condition in Louisiana's Bayou Rouge, he and his mother struggled to eke out an existence after the death of his alcoholic father. Rejected by the local school because of his deformity, he joined his mother in fishing and netting crawdads to feed the family. One day his mother, after a successful morning of netting crustaceans, called to her son in joy. Just then a gator clamped down on her ankle and took her under.
He is taken in by the Constantine family and he and Paul become great friends. Paul reveals to him his horrible memories of an abusive bully who forced him to drown a dog or be drowned himself. Together they give each other support and comfort. But soon they must part. Knowing Roy would not be accepted at the local school with the horrible deformity, the mother homeschooled him for a while but then did the next best thing she could think of to insure his survival in a world prejudiced against those who were different. She got him a job in the sideshow with a travelling circus. There, as Scales, the Crying Lizard, he joined the Fat Lady, Samson, the Pinheads, The Camel Girl and other oddities earning a living and living a life with some semblance of normality. He even had a brief love affair. But it was doomed to end.
The chase through the countryside to Chicago and beyond is fast-paced and violent. There are encounters with soulless highwaymen, with psychotic prison guards sent to "help" Paul in bringing back the prisoner, and finally the discovery that the childhood bully is now a grown man and a threat to both Roy and Paul. The action is as exciting as a good Stephen King or Dean Koontz novel. The plot is tightly-written and the language clear, compelling, and fresh as an autumn morning. Here's one short example of his lapidary prose:
The trees were bare and gray, and the ground was thick with
their fallen leaves. Each leaf was frosted in its own unique patterns,
and they cracked underfoot like bird bones.
Scott Holliday is a young author who honed his craft with short stories, and with a couple of novels he chose not to publish when he was a journeyman author. This reader for one is glad that he waited.
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Normal edition by Scott J Holliday Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks Reviews
If you want a "feel-good" story about humanity and a happy ending, avoid this one.
Between this book and Punishment, I may have found a new favorite author. Every word is perfection, conjuring up vivid pictures, as if watching a movie. Fantastic!
This tale traces the life of an outcast and his best good friend. Their saga is riveting; you will be glad you travelled along.
Scott Holliday nailed it. Upon finishing this I wanted to start reading it to my children and have everyone I know read it. So as to, have someone to discuss the intricut ride through the freak show. Emerging on the other side with much perspective.
I liked the characters very much, yet found the plot of the story a little weak. The freak/sideshow angle should have been explored a little further and maybe have been more the focal point of the story. The conclusion to this story was an afterthought and lacked real imagination. The only reason I got through the story was because I felt emotionally connected with the main character and needed to know what was going to happen with and to him. Below average read.
I read hundreds of books yearly, mostly bargains, mostly disappointments. But, every now and then, an unknown writer find his/her way to my reader and then it's worth all the bad ones to find a Gem like "Normal". So many life lessons packed into a unique story with captivating characters and dynamite dialogue. This is a polished writer whose story-telling, flawless style and pure imagination is far and away superior to many of the highly publicized main stream gizillionaire authors. Roy and Paul's amazing story of hope will make you laugh, cry and shake your fist simultaneously. Do yourself a favor and read this book, you'll be better for it.
Both physically as well as emotionality and mentally maladjusted, dysfunctional humans but finding their ways. Like most of us except sans physical deformation.. Beautifully written! I finished the novel before I had any idea how much I'd read! A violent story yet so full of many kinds of love... Don't miss this one. I very much loved it.
Scott J. Holliday's first novel is a delightful surprise. Set in the late 1870s, when travelling circuses with their roadside attractions of freaks were common, it has the feel of authentic Americana. Holliday captures the ambience, the language, and the random cruelty of rural life in that era.
The story begins with Roy Pellerin, a sideshow attraction for his scale-like skin, who is sent to prison for murder. There he is subjected to unimaginable cruelties and kept in solitary confinement. The cell, a literal hole dug into the ground outside the main prison building, is exposed to the elements. He is not expected to survive this punishment long. With only a bucket to be used for both fresh water and for his own toilet, he is taunted continually by the guards, except for one, Paul Constantine, a childhood friend. Paul mysteriously observes from a distance but does not make himself known to Roy or let the other guards know he is a friend of the prisoner.
When the other guards are not watching Roy, he hardens his body by exercise and his fists by delivering blows on the earthen wall. When they come by to change the bucket or to drop food, he pretends that he is weak and on the verge of death. He practices his death each day as well, holding his breath, reducing his pulse to a bare murmur.
One day it finally appears to the guards that he has died. They take him outside the prison walls to bury him and he suddenly rises up and attacks. One of the guards, his former childhood friend Paul, must now track him down and bring him back, alive or dead. But he has a conflict. He became friends with Roy when his parents brought him into their home after Roy's mother's death. How can he kill Roy or, even worse, return him to the brutal life in the hole?
The back story of how Roy was born with a congenital birth defect, how his mother died, and how he came to join the circus as a sideshow freak is both sad and compelling. Born into a poor family with a rare skin condition in Louisiana's Bayou Rouge, he and his mother struggled to eke out an existence after the death of his alcoholic father. Rejected by the local school because of his deformity, he joined his mother in fishing and netting crawdads to feed the family. One day his mother, after a successful morning of netting crustaceans, called to her son in joy. Just then a gator clamped down on her ankle and took her under.
He is taken in by the Constantine family and he and Paul become great friends. Paul reveals to him his horrible memories of an abusive bully who forced him to drown a dog or be drowned himself. Together they give each other support and comfort. But soon they must part. Knowing Roy would not be accepted at the local school with the horrible deformity, the mother homeschooled him for a while but then did the next best thing she could think of to insure his survival in a world prejudiced against those who were different. She got him a job in the sideshow with a travelling circus. There, as Scales, the Crying Lizard, he joined the Fat Lady, Samson, the Pinheads, The Camel Girl and other oddities earning a living and living a life with some semblance of normality. He even had a brief love affair. But it was doomed to end.
The chase through the countryside to Chicago and beyond is fast-paced and violent. There are encounters with soulless highwaymen, with psychotic prison guards sent to "help" Paul in bringing back the prisoner, and finally the discovery that the childhood bully is now a grown man and a threat to both Roy and Paul. The action is as exciting as a good Stephen King or Dean Koontz novel. The plot is tightly-written and the language clear, compelling, and fresh as an autumn morning. Here's one short example of his lapidary prose
The trees were bare and gray, and the ground was thick with
their fallen leaves. Each leaf was frosted in its own unique patterns,
and they cracked underfoot like bird bones.
Scott Holliday is a young author who honed his craft with short stories, and with a couple of novels he chose not to publish when he was a journeyman author. This reader for one is glad that he waited.
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