The Mill House by Paul McCusker

When a man begins researching his grandfather's past in order to compile a photo slide show for this grandfather's upcoming birthday, he discovers a hidden piece of his past that he refuses to talk about.
Across the Atlantic, in England, a woman is trying to take care of her bedridden grandmother. Her grandmother has gone deeper and deeper into depression over the past few weeks, and no one understands it because she refuses to speak. She just sits in bed and moans.
The four people are connected by a forgotten piece of past. A hidden relationship, a dark secret, and several interlopers play into the mystery as the two of them work to discover what really happened. Only one person besides the grandfather and grandmother knew, but now he's dead.
The characters are realistic and believable. None are perfect. Though it is inevitability obvious that the grandfather and grandmother connected, the reason they split apart is unknown for a while. It's very original.
The main thing keeping this book from being five stars is the inevitable romantic subplot.
Another plus is the lack of a last chapter conversion by one of the characters. That aspect of the plot is left up to the reader's interpretation.
All in all, Paul McCusker is one of the best authors on the market.
4 stars

The Faded Flower by Paul McCusker

When a man's father is diagnosed with Alzheimer's, he takes his family to his hometown where his father lives. His aunt is taking care of his grandfather, but his grandfather insists nothing is wrong with him. But as he descends deeper and deeper into the disease, the prognosis because more evidently true.
There's isn't a single character I can think of that's perfect. Not only that, they are all believable and sometimes funny characters. Since this is a character based plot, this is essential. The need is clearly met.
Another mistake authors could make in writing a character-based plot is overemphasizing the character's personalities. But that mistake is missing in this book.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part is the longest and the third is the shortest. The interesting thing about the parts is that the first part is just a omniscient point of view. In the second part, it switches into a first person account of the lead. No author has ever tried this before, but for no apparent reason.
The history behind the town is exquisite, and it is not given in information dumps. It's lightly sprinkled throughout the plot at given and appropriate places.
As I have said before, I will say again. Paul McCusker is one of the best authors on the market.
4 stars

Epiphany by Paul McCusker

Probably the best thing about Epiphany is the original narration. It is told from the perspective of a dead man looking down on his three grown children.
His older son is a successful businessman living life in the big city. His younger son is a struggling artist who has discarded his talent. His daughter is a young woman trying to live the life of the party. All three return to their hometown for the funeral. There, the older son finds out about a trust fund for him, the younger son tries to finish a painting he started as a boy, and the daughter rekindles an old romance.
This book is short, and for a good reason. The characters are up to his usual par. The whole book is worth reading because of the original end. It's like none other, but there's no reason why no one has ever tried this before.
Basically, Paul McCusker is one of the best authors on the market.
4.5 stars

A Season of Shadows by Paul McCusker

In my opinion, Paul McCusker was born to write, and to write well. Once again, he has crafted a masterpiece called A Season of Shadows. It's about a woman who wakes up after a party at her house to discover that her husband has been killed in a car accident. But then she discovers that he was not as innocent as he seemed. He has a checkered past she knew nothing about until now. She is suddenly thrust into a web that spans across the Atlantic Ocean into England. She then joins a government agency in order to find out what's going on. Her job takes her from her homeland in America to England, where gets caught up in the London Blitz.
The characters are believable, mostly because of their imperfection. McCusker did a thorough job of researching London in WW2.
This is the kind of plot we look for in books. One that's lacking a romantic subplot. One that has a good hostage scene. One that has a good, ironic end. Paul McCusker has established himself as a truly Elite author.
4.5 stars