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Lisa Tucker's debut novel THE SONG READER was an original and
engrossing premise coupled with compelling writing. With that one
book Tucker cemented herself as a strong new voice, a talented
writer to watch for in the future. Now in her sophomore effort,
SHOUT DOWN THE MOON, Tucker proves that THE SONG READER was no
fluke; she has more stories to tell.

The main character in SHOUT DOWN THE MOON is Patty Taylor, a young
single mother with a painful past who is trying desperately to live
in the now and provide for her two-year-old son Willie. "Providing"
means singing for a living as the lead vocalist for a band whose
members either despise her for lending her name to their band, or
ignore her completely for her perceived ignorance about music, or
waste their time wagering if and when they can bed her. It is not a
happy existence for Patty, traveling from bar to bar with these
guys who barely acknowledge her presence, but she reminds herself
repeatedly that it is better than her past.

Her past is Rick: her first love and her first reprieve from the
abuse she received at the hand of her alcoholic mother. Tucker
gives us only glimpses into Patty's childhood after the death of
her father, but the peaks are enough to establish the tough times
that befell Patty and her mother and the blame that her mother
foisted on the young girl. Rick was her knight in shining armor
who, at 23, saved her, 15, from her mother's rants about "the
sacrifices she had made" and the abuse. He rescued her and gave her
safe haven.

"All the rumors about him seemed ridiculous to me now," she said.
"A bad guy wouldn't look as vulnerable as Rick did lying on the
mattress, telling me that he'd dreamed of this moment when he was a
kid." In bits and pieces Tucker reveals that Patty's first love was
a drug dealer and that Patty, in her innocence, tried to look past
his crimes because he seemed so dear to her, so incapable of doing
bad when he was doing nothing but good for her. But there were
moments, cruel moments, when his rage showed through and was aimed
at her. These moments she eventually could not deny, and when
finally he was arrested and sent to jail, she said good-bye to him
and her past, and tried to move on.

His return becomes the true turning point in Patty's life. Up until
now Tucker has given us a survivor, but when her security and the
security of her son is threatened by an unchanged Rick bent on
having her back, Patty becomes a fighter. She recognizes his "love"
for the obsession it truly is, and by this time has found a new
love of her own. The changes in Patty are subtle and gradual, like
the changes in her talent, but powerful and, finally, winning.
Tucker's love of music, so strongly displayed in THE SONG READER,
is here in SHOUT DOWN THE MOON too. And Patty, an okay front singer
for an average pop band, evolves into a true artist as her personal
strength grows and she faces her fears.

Ultimately, SHOUT DOWN THE MOON is a story of personal growth on
the part of someone who didn't even know she had it in her. But
once she realizes it, there's no stopping her. Hopefully there's no
stopping Tucker, too, and we'll be reading more from her
soon.