Fred Venturini's Reviews > Transubstantiate

Weeks have passed since reading this book, and I still can't shake it. Bold and aggressive, the narrative that jumps among seven voices doesn't nurse the reader along with a standard, unroll-the-plot-in-clear-order delivery. Instead, the soul of his book is dusted off line by line, character by character, chapter by chapter, like the dusting off of an artifact that was there all along.

What does all this meandering from me tell you about the book? Read it. Anything that can remind you of "Lost" and Stephen King's "The Stand" in the same sitting, yet feel starkly original is worth your time.

What excites me most about this book is not even what is on the pages you're about to embark upon, but what Thomas will be capable of in his upcoming work. This is his first novel, and one gets the sense that he will not lose momentum going forward. That "it" factor for writers, much like athletes, is difficult to describe. Some call it "voice" or "style" and try to bottle or define it, but like all greatness, you can't fit a lasso around its neck . . . you can sense it here in many stretches, as Thomas engages all your senses and doesn't mince words as the prose shuttles forth.

Richard Thomas is quite simply, a voice to keep your eye on, and Transubstantiate is a roaring read. Don't miss out.