The Innocence of Westbury

The Innocence of Westbury, the second in the Vox Oculis trilogy, begins with the recoveries of Will and Blue after falling prey to the evil savage known as Bronco. Despite the authorities’ desperate search to find him, he remains at large, making it impossible for those affected by his atrocities to heal, to experience a sense of closure to the nightmare they endured, to turn the page and begin anew. Blue finds herself on guard, edgy, and panic-stricken. Ma Beth, in all her kindness, insists she see a therapist, and despite her aversion to mental health professionals, Blue agrees to do so. As she lets her into her world and her tortured past, one hesitant step at a time, she becomes the first doctor Blue has ever trusted.

After a horrific shooting occurs at Westbury High School, a clip of Blue running from the scene appears on the front page of the newspaper. The man who orchestrated the murder of her family five years ago recognizes her. He’s certain she’s the one in the photograph, though until now, he’d believed she’d perished with the rest. He vows to have her eliminated, and Blue observes one of his men watching her from a distance. She decides the only way to protect herself and those she’s come to love so deeply is to run away, change her identity, and hope that someday she can return.

This is an amazingly well-crafted novel. It’s interesting, thought-provoking, and insightful. Raw emotion is laced through its pages. In the first Vox Oculis text, Not Alone, the reader learns about the depth of Blue’s pain and the perplexing nature of her past. She closed herself inside a fortress through which little can penetrate. In this novel, she allows the walls of it to crack but not be torn down completely. She reaches for closeness, only to pull back away. She longs for intimacy, though fear of vulnerability never quite escapes her. However, her attempted journey to wholeness is palpable, and onlookers will find her efforts courageous. They’ll be heartened by the growth that transpires in her relationship with Will. They’ll be touched as well by the bravery he shows when a peer turns on him and his classmates, fatally wounding some of them. The confounding truths that are unveiled about Blue’s past and how they relate to her present will intrigue many. Though Bronco’s disappearance remains somewhat of a mystery to her, the author enables the reader to follow his voyage west and uncover some unimaginable ties between him and those responsible for taking the lives of her family. All the dots that remain unconnected will leave readers more than eager to plunge into the final book of the Vox Oculis trilogy.