Mike

ADAMAS Proofread and reviewed by Mike Gemmell One of the hallmarks of great fiction is when an author is able to dramatize value conflicts in order to convey an unforgettably inspiring message, one rich with meaning, while at the same time delivering a story suspenseful enough so that readers are unable to tear themselves from the pages of the work until late into the night. In my opinion, no writer in today’s world does this more consistently than Alexandra York, and her latest creation, ADAMAS, is a fitting addition to her earlier works The Innocent and Crosspoints: A Novel of Choice. With ADAMAS she has once again created a riveting, romantic suspense novel with a beautifully drawn hero and heroine who inspire us with their courageous actions while providing us with the kind of food for the mind and soul that stays with the reader long after the final page has been turned. The book’s cover–which presents brilliant diamonds scattered across a surface with instruments of justice dramatically posed over them–gives us our first hint that cronyism and commerce will be locked in dramatic conflict. The opening chapter does not disappoint the cover’s promise of dramatic things to come by beginning with intrigue that leads to death at a New Year’s Eve celebration. Bit by bit York reveals earlier events that led to this shocking opening and why the values and worldviews of those on each side of the conflict lead to an inevitable, violent confrontation. The theme of this work is timely in its highlighting of corruption in the world of commerce and timeless in its revealing the fundamental value choices that individuals make that can lead to that corruption. As these choices and the consequences unfold before us, we see the human cost inflicted upon those who wish to exercise their creativity but are prevented from doing so by others alleging allegiance to an existing order. Ratcheting up the drama even further is the former lover who must match the hero’s courage and inventiveness with legal maneuvers that will unmask the dark forces that split them apart years earlier and threaten to imprison his spirit in the present day. By using the courtroom to reveal both the legal and moral issues underlying the novel’s events, York sets up an epic confrontation reminiscent of other outstanding courtroom-based dramas such as Inherit the Wind and Twelve Angry Men. By showing us the courage of a hero who refuses to knuckle under to forces that would stifle his creative genius, who risks everything including the heroic woman passionately in love with that genius, York gives the reader an unforgettable, value-based work of fiction of the highest order that sears itself into the mind, emotions, and soul of those wise enough to follow her lead and experience it. Alexandra York is an author and founding president of the American Renaissance for the Twenty-first Century (ART) a New-York-City-based nonprofit educational arts and culture foundation (www.art-21.org). She has written for many publications, including “Reader’s Digest” and The New York Times. Her latest book is “Adamas.” For more on Alexandra York, Go Here Now.