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Moving Day

Review

Moving Day

Author Jonathan Stone notes in his Acknowledgements at the close of MOVING DAY that he was prompted by a writing contest sponsored by the good folks at Killer Nashville to pull out this wonderful gem (my words, not his) of a novel after it had languished for 12 years. Oh, the humanity! How fortunate we are that everything came together and that this book is in print (whatever that may be, these days) for all of us to read and enjoy. From first page to last, it is a cautionary tale that is not to be missed.

Those of us of a certain age will immediately identify with Stanley Peke, who we meet immediately in the present-tense narrative in which the book is told. Stanley and his wife, Rose, are moving out of their New England home of four decades and transplanting themselves cross-country to Santa Barbara. The moving van arrives a day early, and the crew carefully moves the Pekes’ earthly goods, memories clinging to them like sweet cobwebs, from various rooms in the house to a large white van. Papers are signed, assurances are made, and the Pekes spend one last night in their empty house. The next morning, a moving van and crew --- the real moving van and crew --- arrive. It appears that the Pekes have been swindled.

"Stone’s skills as a journeyman author and skilled storyteller are on display here in equal measure, so much so that you will reach for the book to read it again. And again."

Who would do such a thing? We are made privy to this information in short order when chapter two puts us in the mind of Nick, the mastermind of the heist, whose thought process informs us how the job gets down and what sort of amoral, calculating low-life would think of such a thing, let alone actually carry it out. Nick has been pulling off similar schemes for a while, and is very good at practicing what he sees as the American tradition of grifting. As matters proceed, however, we learn in chapters alternating between them that Nick may have picked the wrong target in Stanley, a septuagenarian whose skin and, yes, the fiber of his being were toughened at an early age. Nick believes that he has successfully vanished without a trace into the heartland of America, transported into anonymity and invisibility by one of the endless ribbons of highway that cross the country into a Brigadoon of sorts called Montana, where he will never be found.

Nick is wrong. Stanley is initially stunned by the violation (there is no other word for it) of his home and possessions, the essence --- in a very real way --- of what he and Rose are. He does not stay stunned for long, though. One doesn’t spend a part of their childhood evading Nazi soldiers in Polish forests only to take abuse, particularly from someone like Nick, lying down. After days of oscillating between rage and a reluctant acceptance, Stanley embarks upon a course of action: insurance coverage notwithstanding, he wants his things back. He and Rose accordingly begin a cross-country trip somewhat different from the one they had previously contemplated, one of discovery, experience, revelation and, ultimately, justice. There are elements between what has occurred in Stanley’s remote past --- things of which even Rose is unaware --- and this new tragedy that leave Stanley unable to accept what has happened and to move on.

As Stanley broods about the past and plots his future actions, Nick, self-satisfied in his belief of his own considerable intelligence and flawless criminal track record, blithely proceeds as he has done before. He has no idea that he is being pursued but eventually will discover how much he has underestimated his latest victim. Those stolen goods ultimately become a nexus between Nick and Stanley, whose conflict, as it plays out in a remote Montana woods, closes a circle that began almost seven decades before in a place far removed in distance but close in memory.

I have been pestering, as only I can, my circle of friends and acquaintances to read MOVING DAY, particularly those who are of my generation and/or who have parents of the same age. This is not simply a great story, however; Stone’s skills as a journeyman author and skilled storyteller are on display here in equal measure, so much so that you will reach for the book to read it again. And again.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub on July 3, 2014

Moving Day
by Jonathan Stone

  • Publication Date: June 1, 2014
  • Genres: Fiction, Suspense, Thriller
  • Paperback: 284 pages
  • Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
  • ISBN-10: 1477818243
  • ISBN-13: 9781477818244