Traci
Wells Earl Draughon
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2003 iUniverse
ISBN: 0595262287

A romantic comedy, a family drama & a crime caper all rolled into one.

Traci contains a cast of six characters all connected in this modern world of marriage & divorce. Each will make you wonder, cringe, laugh & get quite angry!

You'll also be coaxed into wanting to know more about them. Why a woman's past makes it impossible for her to get close to anyone. Why a middle-age man with a passion for young girls has the power to crush anyone who gets in his way. Why a teenager searches for the father she never knew.

Steve Bates is an emotional man, divorced for quite a few years, & on the verge of proposing marriage to Janet, a lovely, wise attorney with her feet on the ground, not easily conned or spooked, except she's pushing forty & her biological alarm clock is ringing in her ear. & Steve has problems with commitment. Why change the status quo? Isn't it working just fine? Maybe he should...

Enter Traci, an adorable, teenage waif, who is a fine liar! She's one of the smoothest. Steve is a sucker, & much more naive than he believes. He sees himself as a hip man of the world. In fact, his inner dialog says so, all the time. Of course, he's putty in the precocious girl's hands as she wheedles her way into his Spartan life by pretending to be his long-lost daughter.

The reason Traci knows all the buttons to push in Steve's heart is because she really does know his daughter, back on the West Coast, & for a short while things go along swimmingly. They both get what they want. Until wealthy Cliff Jenkins arrives in his limo to take her back. Even brings along Traci's mother for good measure. & Traci must now own up to her scam. Except she really, really isn't going to go back to lecherous Cliff's house with all his pretty young things, his wealth & his secrets.

Meanwhile back in California, Shirley, Steve's real daughter has been planning on running away to live with her dad. Dolores is one troubled mother, working hard to make ends meet, & coping with a teenager with one foot already out the door. After constant nagging Shirley's surprised & wary when her mom gives in & they drive east, to see dad. Dolores, rather out of touch with reality & worn down by it, has vague ideas of reconciliation with Steve. Shirley knows better.

Traci is a comedy of relationship errors keenly written by an author I'm beginning to enjoy. Wells Earl Draughon (as in drawn) knows how to make your hair stand on end, your toes curl, as well as get you giggling. In other words, he's good!

Lots of complicated layers & lies, with menacing old men challenging naive young fathers, ex-wives & current girlfriends doing the “Should I?/I shouldn't!” dance & hissing at each other, while the two saucy maidens wrap everyone around their little fingers! Funny, fast & cautionary -- beware of what you ask for, you might get it -- in spades!

Visit the author's website at: www.WellsEarlDraughon.com
More from Wells Earl Draughon:
Lies
Last Things First Things
Advanced Writing: Fiction and Film
Heather
A Book Worth Reading
(01/02/05)

Rebecca