Synopsis:

Amidst the darkness of turmoil, there is hope.

Blake Solomon had never before heard such heart-wrenching stories until now. Jason gang member, Rebecca a child prostitute, Matthew an African refugee, and Felicity a reckless rich kid, make up the newest group at Blake’s Anchor Beach Rehabilitation Clinic.

Each have seen more than their share of tragedy and have reached a point of desperation where all hope seems lost. Leaving behind worlds tainted with drugs and alcohol, violence and abuse, self-harm, and street life is easier said than done. Unexpectedly, these four young lives collide in extraordinary circumstances as they attempt to salvage any glimmer of strength and self-belief they have left.

Blake’s battle to save all four from paths of certain self-destruction is the toughest he’s ever faced. Is a quick-fix all he has to offer before feeding them back to the lions? Or will he keep his promise to help them face their demons?

Review:

Somewhere during the tumultuous years we call being a teenager, I read a book called Voices that impacted me strongly at the time and stuck with me for many years. The concept of the book was the background and letters of teens who committed suicide, and was based on non-fiction cases. Each time I connected with the kid in the current “story” and each time my mind cried out for them to choose life — things would get better. When I ran across Ashley Sanders’ Facing Demons the write up reminded me of the book which had made such a huge impression on me. So I read the preview and decided to give it a try.

I was not disappointed.

Sanders has penned a powerful story weaving five troubled lives together in a beautiful setting. Blake Solomon rescues four teens from the hospital, transports them to his rehabilitation center, and helps them learn to take control of their own destiny and break their patterns from the past. And you may note that I mentioned five troubled lives, and not four. Blake has some troubles which are revealed through the course of the story as well, which help give him a realness he would not otherwise have had.

Each of the kids in the story come to life on the page, and you will feel like you could meet them somewhere in your own home town. Yet, each of them has a reason to want to die, as well as a reason to live — though they may not know it. While each of their stories has some similarities, they are unique to the character and the voices are well-developed. My only complaint, which probably comes from being a writer myself and therefore used to subjecting my own work to extreme critical analysis, is that despite the use of first person present tense (or in the case of Blake third person present tense), I felt distanced from the characters — like they were at arms length. I wanted to feel their pain, yet felt told about it instead. I am not a huge fan of present tense narrative, but the purpose behind it is to bring the reader into the mind of the character, reducing any distance. Toward the end of the book, the distance diminished, which made me wish the intimacy would have been there from the start.

However, despite my pickiness, Facing Demons is a worthwhile read, and one that teens will definitely connect to. The issues that the teens face have an incredible ring of truth about them. And in delving into Sanders’ background, I discovered that he works as a paramedic, so has seen this sort of thing first hand. What a wonderful way to take personal experience and convert it to an amazingly insightful tale. Facing Demons is about some of the poor choices we can make with our lives, or dealing with the circumstances dealt to us from the deck of life. It has a tremendous message of hope and will have you on the edge of your seat, biting your nails with its exciting conclusion. A definite “must read” for troubled teens, but good for all teens and those of us who still remember the emotional upheaval of those times.

Bravo, Mr. Sanders

What’s even better is that Sanders is currently working on the prequel stories of Jason, Rebecca, Matthew, and Felicity, and I for one can’t wait for them to be out.

I love an adventure story.  I’m not talking about the jarring action packed adventure with lots of guns and running, destined for an R rating if it makes the big screen, but instead a personal kind of adventure for one person that ends up being a life changing personal journey for them.  And that’s exactly what happened to Janis Letts.

On page one, she’s living in the Australia “bush” in the Central Queensland Gemfields as a tour guide for an underground sapphire mine.  A historical cottage infested with white ants is where she makes her home.  She best sums up her livelihood like this:

The greatest strength of the community is its people, an abundance of colourful characters from all walks of life.  What we lack in physical comfort we make up for in diversity.

What Janis doesn’t know is that those words are about to become a strange metaphor for the journey she is about to take.  Her oldest son, Cameron, resides in China.  He’s married, has a son, and is about to open his second English school.  He persuades his mother to get a tourist Visa and to come to China to meet her new grandchild for the first time, and to be a teacher in his school.  On page 2, Janis announces “I’m going to China!”  And she persuades her younger son, Hamish, to join her.

The difficulties Janis will face start almost immediately, the biggest being the language barrier. But right from the start, Janis remains determined and keeps a sense of positivity about all of this. She’s also a masterful story teller.  I hate a coworker’s vacation story that runs long because they have to tell me hour by hour what they did each day.  As I’ve already pointed out, Janis announces her intentions on page 2 of this book, on page 4 she’s battling through airport crowds to get on a plane, and on page 6 her plane is touching down in Beijing.  She constantly keeps the story moving throughout, revealing Chinese culture from an outsider’s respectful point of view.

Janis’s story is full of small nuances that really make the reader stop and ponder what she is experiencing, from everyone’s strange smoking habits (Cameron explains its a cultural thing) to every rumor you’ve heard before about Chinese food, from nonexistent customer service and no rules for “waiting patiently in line for your turn,” to Chinese in-laws like you have never met before, Janis never offers her own personal opinion about what she sees or hears.  She simply points out that its there and that it’s noteworthy.  Most of the time I found myself giggling at her perceptions because although she never offers a biased opinion, you just know that inside her head she’s probably saying, “Oh no!  What the heck have I gotten myself into?!”

But this is no vacation.  Being a stranger in a strange land definitely has its consequences.  Cameron does a good job of warning his mother to “trust no one” and to never give out their home address.  Cameron advises her that the school can’t afford to employ her full time and that she will have to find other part-time work (or not to panic because work will find her).  I was stunned when he warns his Mom to be careful of people who approach her with work because she could be “whisked away by white slave traders.”  Like Janis I was asking, “Do they still exist?”  Janis attacking a pickpocket with an umbrella literally made me laugh out loud, but I was relieved in the end that she didn’t lose her wallet.

Janis’s small accomplishments make her so proud, and I found myself smiling with pride and happiness for her.  In a letter she writes to her mom, she mentions having to catch a cab after work without her son there to translate.  Cameron wrote down their home address for her and told her to speak it rather than show it to the driver for practice in tackling the language.  “I can speak Chinese!” she exclaims when she arrives home safely at the correct gate.  “You make it all sound so easy,” her mom writes back.

The first page of each chapter presents a photo from Janis’s adventure with a caption explaining what the photo is, almost as if you have sat down with her to thumb through a memory book or photo album.  The photos really help set an overall tone and add depth to her story as her daily adventures unfold. Over time, Janis becomes very accustomed to her surroundings, her job as a teacher, and to Chinese life in general.  Her appreciation for the culture shines in the end when she photographs some mah-jong players and states:

As an outsider, I feel strangely honoured that I’m not a tourist, but a significant family member.

My only complaint about the story – and it is a minor one – is that the ending is very rushed.  The epilogue sums up the end of Janis’s story in half a page with her returning home to Australia, staying in contact with Chinese family members via phone and computer, and the arrival of a new grandson.  After reading 300 pages of Janis’s year long fascinating journey in China, I would have liked a more thorough glimpse into how she felt in the end when she returned home and had time to reminisce about  “the dragon.”   But like I said, that is very minor.  The 300 pages I spent with Janis on the streets of China were captivating, filled with teary eyes and lots of laughs; this author has done an amazing job of bringing the reader along with her on a trip neither will forget.

Read a preview of this book at Google Books.