Anyone Can Die by James LePore

Anyone Can Die
by James LePore
The Story Plant 2009
*Thank You Tracee from Pump Up Your Book Promotions for the opportunity to review*

Have you ever thought about reading a short (46 pages) book composed of three short stories providing a synopsis of central characters? There is no background, plot, or other detail developed. The genre seems clear from the violent, sensual, and dysfunctional backgrounds of these characters. This would be an interesting way to structure a contest to write a story or as a teaser for what is to come from a forthcoming novel.

In the case of Anyone Can Die, James LePore provides background for the characters in his published novel A World I Never Made, which I have not yet read. I will, however, as I am tantalized by the interaction of these three interesting people. In the Introduction, Mr. LePore advises that his editor suggested excising some of the detail about the characters to streamline the manuscript. The author thought readers would want this background to understand why these characters have such unusual approaches to life – i.e., stuck in a world, with personalities, that they did not choose.

There are three vignettes. In the first story, a young couple on their honeymoon experience intense orgasms when they make love for the first time (she insisted on waiting). They shortly have a confrontation in New Mexico revealing that the husband (Patrick or Paddy, a boxer) and wife can be brutal.

The second story is set in areas of Paris that I have walked on many occasions. The heroine is the daughter of the husband Paddy, now fully grown. Megan Nolan sleeps with a rich Parisian, secreting money in her own accounts for the future. She has interest in a pimp, who assists her in disposing of a son who brutalizes his own mother, a friend of Megan’s. She will stay on with her lover until . . . (obviously an important element of the novel).

In the third, we find a young man, Max, apparently unrelated to the husband and daughter in the first two parts, who watches his mother being killed by a step-father, who had brutalized the boy as well. As an adult, Max murders the step-father. He becomes an FBI agent handling the Megan Nolan Affair. He is also in love with the fair Megan. He leaves her in Prague, believing that he will never see her again.

I was intrigued with each short vignette and so will you. The cleverly written snipettes (a Texas literary term) certainly induced me to read the novel.

This is an interesting way to publish and promote what I am sure is a fine story. From the foundation of these characters, a best seller could be composed. I am curious to discuss this with Mr. LePore to ascertain whether, in hindsight, it has been successful. Would he advise other authors (like me) to do the same as a way of building a reader base?

Please read this find collation of characters and see what you think.

Warms, Cym


James LePore