Voices


Fiction - Literary
Kindle Edition
Reviewed on 09/12/2011
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

ROGER LADD MEMMOTT was born in Salt Lake City to fourth generation Mormons and grew up in the high desert country of southern Utah. His stories and poems have appeared in dozens of magazines, including Sou’wester, Confrontation, and Cumberland Poetry Review. His writing has been called "lyrical," "rhapsodic," "intoxicatingly poetic," "...by turns stunningly beautiful and prosaic," even "breathsnatching."

He is a recipient of the WRITER'S DIGEST NATIONAL BOOK AWARD for his book of poetry, Riding the Absolute. He recently published his third novel, HEAVEN'S WAY, which Writer's Digest called "a wonderful book, full of emotion and plot...with a dreamlike quality to it...and a [protaganist] to cheer for."

VOICES, his newest novel, has been called "an utterly stirring, erotically charged, and morally complex tale of uncompromising honesty." READERS FAVORITE gave it a 5-Star Reveiw and called it "Intriguing...a suspenseful and complex book...filled with ironic twists, excitement, and thrills. A masterpiece of a novel!"

He lives on the West Coast with his wife, family...and dogs

    Book Review

Reviewed by Rita Vetsch for Readers' Favorite

Voices is an intriguing novel written by Roger Ladd Memmott. Kala Westergaard was orphaned as a young child and raised by her grandmother and aunt. The novel starts with Kala and her boyfriend, Tommy, out driving late at night. They encounter a deer on the dark road and end up in a ditch. But this accident will change Kala’s life forever, setting up a chain of horrific events that unfold before her very eyes. An old truck arrives on the scene and two men jump out of the cab. In a terrible twist of fate, these men are wanted for abducting women all over the state. They hurt Tommy, and when Kala runs, they chase her through the woods. One of the men rapes her, and then she escapes into the nearby river. Kala compares herself to Joan of Arc, with flames engulfing her from within, and must stay strong to deliver her wrath of revenge on the two men and fight for justice. When Kala regains her strength, she realizes that she is pregnant and thrown nearly into insanity when she finds out yet another ironic twist about the father of her baby. She is reminded of past events which led to her father’s death and how tragic life can be; was he really her father, though? Then Kala makes a shocking discovery in talking to another victim of the abducting duo: there is actually a third man out there involved in the abductions and he is the mastermind behind it all. Kala takes on a Joan of Arc persona to prepare for battle and to defend her tears, suffering, rage and honor. Will she come face to face with the third abductor? Will she survive and ever be happy again?

I truly enjoyed reading this masterpiece of a novel and hung onto every word as if it were the last. Roger Ladd Memmott has a talent in knowing how to keep a reader hanging on for more. This suspenseful and complex book is filled with ironic twists, excitement and thrills. The reader is able to get inside Kala’s head and know her most secret thoughts and desires. Roger uses the perfect descriptive words and details, making me feel I was there witnessing all the events unfold. I felt myself cheering Kala on, even if I didn’t agree with the choices she was making. Not only is this novel a compelling read, it also makes us think about life and how coincidences can catch us off guard and change our lives forever, thus forcing us to make choices we would not normally have to make. I absolutely loved this novel and feel that I have taken away a little piece of ‘Joan of Arc’ to put inside my soul.