Title: Swamp Water Tales
Author: John Tuminello
Publisher: Authors’ Tranquility Press
ISBN: 978-1959453130
Pages: 282
Genre: Memoirs
Reviewed by: Alyssa Avina

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There is something incredibly impactful about a collection of autobiographical short stories that immerse you in the author’s world and leave you utterly captivated by the life they led. That was the exact reaction I had after reading Swamp Water Tales by John Tuminello. I felt as though I was a fly on the wall as he laid out the scenes of his childhood, enrapturing his readers with intrigue as he went along. It was a book I did not want to put down and I am absolutely positive you will feel the same way.

The story itself starts in Bay City, Louisiana at a time when the effects from the war were still raw and fresh in everyone’s minds and hearts. Innocence prevailed and trust came all too easy in this small town where everyone left their doors unlocked, windows open in the summer, and their car keys in the visor, as Tuminello tells it. But there was more to this town’s residents than we first realized.

Tuminello has an infallible ability to create an enthralling atmosphere in his detailed writings of his childhood growing up in Louisiana as a Sicilian-German in a military community. With each short story in his novel, he interweaves hopefulness with suspense through every passing page. There is something truly beautiful yet inherently eerie in the world Tuminello has introduced us to yet you can’t help but be on the edge of your seat, hoping to find out just what is going on in the swamps of Louisiana and where will Tuminello and his family end up when all is said and done?

For those of you who are a fan of suspenseful and thrilling plot lines, and characters you just cannot seem to get out of your head, this is certainly the book for you. This captivating memoir, Swamp Water Tales by John Tuminello, is a collection of stories that endures and will leave you breathless. Whatever you do, don’t sleep on this author and the beautiful, eloquent way in which he tells his story. Trust me when I say you will not regret going along for the ride of his childhood journey. Tuminello’s tales are solid proof that biographies and memoirs can be just as much of a page-turner as any thriller worth its weight.