“Can you imagine squeezing all of your morality, your whole existence, into just 10 f$%^&* seconds? But there I was weighing the options: do I get involved and place myself in harm’s way, or do I play it safe?”
That is the dilemma facing David Alan Taylor in author Henry D. Trett’s tightly crafted novel “Hero of the Day?” (Belen Books), which poses difficult questions for one ordinary guy and raises bigger issues about societal norms, stereotyping, prejudices, political posturing and gun laws, to name a few.
More than anything, “Hero of the Day?” reminds readers in no uncertain terms that each of us views life through a different lens — one person’s right is another’s wrong. Just in the title, is our protagonist a hero of the day (with a question mark) or somebody else’s villain?
An average Joe, a gun & a whole lot of chaos
David finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time (or, depending on that lens, the right at the right). Leaving a bar in Orlando with a few friends after celebrating his 30th birthday, he witnesses a person shooting a police officer in the middle of a crowded street. Separated from his friends but seeing the shooter now close in on the lying and wounded officer with a suggestion that he is going to finish off his work, David sees the officer’s revolver a few feet away.
He has 10 seconds to make up his mind.
He picks up the officer’s gun and puts a bullet through the shooter.
Chaos breaks out as the shooter’s friends take aim at David, who proceeds to shoot four more of the gang. Bodies are everywhere.
David, who narrates his own story, describes himself as a man of inconsequence — neither good nor bad, not swept away by a cause, a belief or action. Life to David, and for David, is pretty ordinary. Until the so-called “incident” becomes a media frenzy and tosses David into the hands of public opinion, as well as judge, jury and executioner.
Complicating matters for David is a civil rights propagandist who tries to posture David’s act as that of a white man taking aim at four Black men simply as a racist act.
And then there are the machinations of local politicians who find that their interests, causes and careers hinge on finding David guilty of the charges against him.
Throw in a former girlfriend, now married but still in love with him, a local reporter who makes an interesting reveal, and a 12-year-old daughter that David may or may not have, and you’ve got a tight, well-conceived storyline with multiple threads.
Captivating, macabre story draws readers in
Trett tells a captivating story with slick writing that keeps the story moving. He introduces plenty of characters and twists that behoove him to tie up a lot of loose ends before he’s finished. And the device of making a “killer” the narrator, describing the story as it is happening to him, instantly draws in readers and offers a kind of macabre storytelling — just another Joe suddenly the center of a national media circus.
So is David Alan Taylor a hero for the day, as the title asks?
“Am I the monster that so many people have claimed me to be or am I just a victim of circumstance?” he wonders.
“Before you decide,” he continues, “remember that I am just like you. I am riddled with flaws, awash with hopes and dreams, and crippled by fears and desires. Like you, I’m just trying to stay afloat amid the maelstrom of life.”
Read “Hero of the Day?” and decide for yourself.
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