Date: February 2, 2025
Author: Stephen L. Carter
Title: The Emperor Of Ocean Park
I found this title amidst a plethora of lawyerly titles in my uncle’s private collection. (I’ve mentioned him before, and I will again. My uncle is the retired clerk of courts for his county.) My uncle’s favorite author, Mr. John Grisham also praised this book highly on the front cover. All this plus the long list of resounding praise I just knew I had to get at this as soon as possible.
This was quite an intricate story. I am awed that Mr. Carter kept it all straight in his head. I was throughly enthralled from the start and sped through the story. Exactly one week from my start reading date until I reached the conclusion today.
I felt I was very forgiving over a few minor details while I was plugging along, which included, but is not limited to, using the n-word with an -er at the end, not an -a which I feel would have been more appropriate with the jargon being used and a little less offensive to readers. It also had high praise from many institutions including the Catholic Church so was expecting the prose to be heavily peppered with some good ol’ fashioned preaching. But I believe the topic of God was handled beautifully. It just happened to be part of the story.
When I came to the end is where I faltered. There was a lot of hoopla to get the reader excited for the final reveal. However, the final reveal was a bit staid. I loved the story, just wasn’t wowed after putting so much time and energy into one book. It was 650 pages. No small task.