Chatroom with a view by Glenn Maynard

Lizzie Borden took an axe . . . and so goes the song depicting the 1892 axe murders of her father and step-mother. Research indicates that a killer gene could be passed down through generations of family members, and evidence begins with Lizzie’s ancestor who murdered his mother in 1673. Chatroom with a View opens with a bone-chilling episode, and what’s left of Troy Cullen’s dysfunctional family keeps him even further from the normal integration with society. Troy’s life further unravels when his ex-girlfriend, Veronica, announces that she is pregnant. Troy loses control and plots to do unto others as they have done unto him. When Veronica digs into his family’s past, she exposes this killer gene; she must try to balance her obsession for a family with shielding herself and their baby from evil. But Troy has his own agenda, resulting in an epic showdown.

CHAPTER 1 

The wind gusts reached into the woods and sporadically shifted the little log cabin at its base, and the raindrops thumped the structure with a little more vigor when they did. It wasn’t that it was a threatening storm, but it created enough of a commotion to jolt Troy Cullen back into the world in which he was not a very big fan. The gray, sticky afternoon in late July contained enough heat to bring on this afternoon thunderstorm, but much more accompanied the storm beyond the clouds and the thunder and the rain. Troy looked around the room from the floor of this log structure and with hazy vision saw his father on the hardwood floor across from him. Neither of them moved like the approaching storm. Turning his head to the left, he could see his house through the window. In fact, he could see the window of his bedroom from his current position inside this little cabin in the back yard. He was on the other side looking in not long ago, but a lot had changed since then. In the matter of an hour, his entire world had turned upside down. He looked at his father again, and not a lot of good came from that glance. He certainly appeared different than he did an hour ago. An hour ago, he was full of vim and vigor. An hour ago, he was as wild as he was throughout Troy’s entire childhood. An hour ago, he was violent, yet again. Now, he wasn’t any of those things, but then Troy saw him stir. As Troy continued to keep an eye on his father, making sure he did not rise up to do more harm, his mind was flooded with episodes of his past. He was hard pressed to find a good one. In fact, he was quite certain there were none. Maybe he was just a hard disciplinarian. Maybe it was just that he too was the product of a bad environment, but his father never talked about his past. Troy did not belong to the type of family that would sit around the table talking about their day. He was an only child. T CHAPTER 1 2 He was also a lonely child. Sometimes the two go hand in hand, and in his case, solitude was forced upon him due to the circumstances that were created within the confounds of the house he could see from his current position. Another crackle of thunder made Troy jump, and he noticed that his father jumped too. However, his father returned to unconsciousness. His injuries were far worse than Troy’s, and for the first time in his life he was able to get the upper hand on his father. It was a terrifying moment, but he was twenty-four years old now and finally able to protect himself. Troy was still living at home, not because he enjoyed being there or because he could not financially take on the burden of a rent payment, but rather he needed to protect his mother from his father. His mother did not ask him to do it, but she knew why he remained at home even though it was the last place he wanted to be. Nothing good would come of his remaining at home other than his ability to keep an eye on his mother. 

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Glenn Maynard is the author "Strapped Into An American Dream" and "Desert Son Trilogy." He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Connecticut, and a degree in Communications. After spending 4 years living in Denver, Colorado, he returned home to Connecticut and now resides in Wethersfield. Glenn has a son named Andrew. As a travel correspondent for three newspapers while exploring the United States, Canada and Mexico during his one-year journey, Glenn published a total of twenty newspaper articles. His story was captured on the NBC local news upon his return.

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Chatrooms are detrimental for any person who's not aware of its traps. Troy learned this quickly. Alas, that isn’t his only problem. Soon he finds himself in the middle of so much tension that you wonder how he will get away scot-free. It is amazing to read how he talks himself deeper into trouble, which makes for an interesting plotline.

Coming from a dysfunctional family, Troy is tired of the abuse in his home but stays to protect his mother. A gallant thing to do until one day when it did not end well.

The plotline could be comical if not for the state his father is in. Troy has no love for his father. Forced by his own doing to take care of him, it tests him on all fronts. Problems amounts at an alarming pace and Troy has a hard time to stay in control. When he receives the news of the pregnancy, the wheels fell off one by one.

This book has so many twists that you wonder if Troy will survive it all. Will his father survive his own hell and what about Veronica? Will she keep it together or try to help? All I know is that it enhances the story and gives it greater depth.

The chatroom conversations are realistic, the pace of the story fast. The author did an outstanding job in bringing it all together. The end almost sinister, but fitting.