Blood and Circumstance »

Frank Turner Hollon is the author of The God File, The Pains of April, Life Is a Strange Place, and A Thin Difference. His short stories have appeared in Stories from the Blue Moon Café and The Alumni Grill. He lives with his wife and family in Baldwin County, Alabama, where he practices law.

The pretrial interview sessions between a killer and a doctor create an intricate tale of murder, mercy, and madness.

Joel Stabler takes the life of his beloved brother Danny in what appears to be a mercy killing. When Joel’s lawyers assign a psychologist to determine his sanity at the time of the shooting, the full story of the brothers’ past — and long family history of mental illness — begins to unfold.

Told entirely through Joel’s pre-trial interview sessions with Dr. Andrews, Blood and Circumstance takes on the argument of nature versus nurture, closely examining the factors that prompted this murder. And as Joel responds to the doctor’s probing questions, he, in turn, begins to evaluate the doctor, stealing glimpses of his notes and speculating about his personal life. Listening in on their conversations, it becomes less and less clear whom to trust, what is certain, and where the truth actually lies.

With his signature prose and unwavering attention to detail, Frank Turner Hollon’s latest achievement examines the uncertain search for identity through the crisscrossing paths of blood and circumstance.

Publishers Weekly

Reading like an offbeat criminal justice version of the talking-head film My Dinner with Andre, attorney Hollon's latest takes an intriguing look at the nature of mental capacity. The bulk of the novel consists of psychiatric sessions conducted in prison by Dr. Ellis Andrews with inmate Joel Stabler, accused of the murder of his brother, Danny. Joel's uncanny intelligence enables him to turn the tables on his interrogator, manipulating the doctor into empathizing with the accused, who claims that he took his sibling's life to spare Danny from the ravages of mental illness that devastated their father. The reliability of Joel's memories is called into question, leading to a satisfyingly ambiguous ending. The author's gift for understated dialogue makes the conversations between doctor and patient particularly compelling. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.