Shutter Speed


Fiction - Thriller - General
246 Pages
Reviewed on 09/02/2015
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

Mark Taylor's debut novel, crash landed on planet earth in 2013. Its dark brooding style benchmarked his writing and has led to further releases of novel and short story collection alike.

While most of Mark's work is macabre, occasion has it that he will write about kittens and daisies. Just not very often.

Some say he is a product of his environment, others, a product of his own imagination.

Whichever it is he works happily, portraying dark existences on this planet and others. He relays his fears and doubts on his characters, so always has a smile. If Mark is real, as some say he is, you might find him in England.

Perhaps.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Janelle Fila for Readers' Favorite

Jimmy Tasker is an ordinary child. He loves to take pictures: he has an excellent eye for it. When some nasty bullies take things too far, Jimmy ends up burned and different. And it doesn't end there. I really liked the opening of Shutter Speed by Mark Taylor. What a sad and honest way to start a story! I felt for Jimmy the moment I read the first page. Making that emotional connection with a reader is such a good start, especially right from the beginning of the book. Neither the bullies nor the father came across as clichéd, and poor Jimmy just came across as needing so much help. I wanted to reach through the pages and give him a hug as his father continued to beat him, his mother continued to ignore him (or at least, was not able to help him because of her issues), and he felt he was broken and not healing correctly (emotionally more than physically).

I liked how the story all linked together at the end, too. There were times when I wasn't 100 percent sure where the story was headed or how it was going to connect together, but it always did and it always made sense. I liked that other characters were introduced and that Jimmy ended up definitely changed. He was not the same kid that you felt sorry for in the beginning of the story. By the end, I didn't want to hug him anymore! But that character transformation is what a story is all about! If a character goes through an incredible change, then so does the reader too.