Galvanizing Story – My Book Review

After a shocking courtroom tragedy, a disturbed Vietnam veteran and the vindictive judge who sent him to prison become an unlikely pair of time travelers in a chaotic multiverse. The fallen angel who rescues them wants to guide them to a radiant new life. But first they must return to the scene of a ghastly crime.

Billy Worster was a naïve teenager ill-prepared for the gruesome realities of war. The sole survivor of a deadly massacre in a Vietnamese jungle, he avoided certain death only because he ran away when the shooting started. Riddled with guilt, he comes home to a dusty Texas farm with post-traumatic stress disorder and the crazy notion that he can fly in and out of parallel worlds.

As Billy struggles with addiction and questions his sanity, he is arrested on a drug charge and ends up in the courtroom of Judge Madeline Johnston, a bitter old judge tormented by a dark secret surrounding her father’s death. She callously tosses Billy into prison, but when a greedy executor files a lawsuit to steal his inherited land, Billy is hauled back to her courtroom in chains, where a stunning twist of fate launches them into the sky on an odyssey of discovery and healing.

Spanning forty years from the jungles of Vietnam through infinite, parallel worlds, Rip the Sky examines how the power of forgiveness can lead us toward a better life, no matter how many worlds we may live in.

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Honestly, I did not know what to expect from this story, Rip the Sky. From the initial descriptions, it seemed like this book would be about war and its aftereffects. The cover is appealing. Little did I know I would be taken on a remarkable journey. Author Mark Packard does not disappoint. Rip the Sky is a haunting fiction book of place and time set in the Texas Panhandle.

I was crying by the end of this book. This story is heartwrenching surrounding forgiveness, not only of others but of yourself. It is a story about how barriers are built to protect your heart. It is a story about how any war has gripping lasting effects on the soldiers who fight for our country. Lastly, this is a story about how small the world actually is.

With all these connected elements are threads in Rip the Sky and they are told with a fresh perspective by Mark Packard. His unique twist in this story is how the two main characters deal with their lives in the most unique way.

This story revolves around Billy who is an unassuming guy living, yet not fully living under the radar.  He is a Vietnam vet who takes to drinking and smoking marijuana to escape his demons. Yet, he finds another way to escape his demons by traveling to the Interlude. Intermixed in this story is how Billy’s life collides with a Judge and why both have turned out the way they have over the years. One bitter. One holding secrets. Hands down this book is immersive and it’s deeply soul-stirring.

Packard’s creative use of the Interlude is what makes this story perfect.

It is a haunting story that envelopes your heart and may make you cry at the end.

I highly recommend this book. It is a poignant, unforgettable story that jumps off the pages and embeds into your psyche to learn to forgive and not hold secrets deep within you.  It is truly a galvanizing story.

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