High school “brainiac” Justin Andrews, at the age of 14, had
his life all figured out. With an IQ of
130, not even his parents could hold a candle to his whimsical antics which
consequentially got him spiraling into orbiting a cyber-hacking group of
criminals. Undaunted in his escapades even when knowing he’s been identified by
one of Seattle Police Department’s finest, Lieutenant Spencer Watley, Justin
plows ahead with his actions; but the story takes a twist when the cop gets
killed.
Spencer’s soul takes on a journey of quite imaginative
proportions, as author Erna Mueller unfolds a set of circumstances in her
fanciful novel, A New Leash on Life. A path beyond human, beyond theological, into
the realm of K-9 to be exact, is cleverly revealed. You see, Spencer returns to earth, not as he
was, but reincarnated as a dog. His mission:
To teach Justin Andrews to become unselfish, while at the same time
solving the crime which took his life!
Erna Mueller’s writing has “Style” – that’s style with a
capital “S!” Rarely have I read an
entire book where virtually each sentence is written with such a combination of
slang, comical innuendos, cool expressions, surrogate elucidations, and mental
piquancy. What might seem to be on the
verge of discombobulating for many readers, I assume it would be perfectly
understandable to someone with ADHD.
This, obviously is entirely intentional and by design. As by using this creative approach to
wordsmithing, Erna Mueller disentangles one’s normal logical pathways and
causes a mental environment of pandemonium whereas then her tumult of
interrelations begins to make sense.
Plus, by keeping the characters as high-schoolers, and of course, a dog,
she appeals to the young adult market, showing her readers by example how to
expand their minds to use the vast macrocosm of the English language in new and
exciting ways. Even her table of
contents foreshadows a book with “out-of-the-box” originality; thus allowing
for the readers to think to themselves, “Now just what does that mean?”
A fantastic book to be given as a gift to any teenager, A New Leash on Life will certainly be
enjoyed and remembered by all that page this fine work of such literary mastery. It’s not what they teach you in English class
– but for all those in Creative Writing 101, this book would get accolades and
praise. In fact, even if you’re not a
teenager, you’d still “roll over” for this book if you’re a dog lover! After all, having a human inside a canine is
something all dog owners believe has happened already!
