Moving Day by Jonathan Stone, a Mysterious Review.

Review: 72-year-old Stanley Peke and his wife Rose are moving from their home of 40 years in New England to Southern California. A home where they raised three children and have a lifetime of possessions and memories. When the movers arrive to pack their furniture and belongings, Peke is surprised. Aren't they a day early? No, the paperwork says today, Nick the foreman replies, in Moving Day, a thriller by Jonathan Stone.

Peke and Rose plan on seeing America, driving their car cross-country as the moving truck travels to Santa Barbara and sets up their new home. Before they can set out they discover the scam: Nick and his crew have stolen nearly everything from them. But not everything. A safe deposit box contains stock certificates, jewelry, and the like. Peke assumes — correctly — that Nick will want everything from him, retrieves an antique pocket watch from the box, has a tracking device inserted in it, returns it and waits. Sure enough the device is activated, and Peke is on a personal mission to get back what belongs to him.

He knows it has little to do with the objects themselves. It is the principle of the thing. One cannot disrupt another life. There has to be a consequence.

Moving Day isn't really a thriller, as nearly everything that happens can readily be predicted. Instead, it is more of a metaphorical novel, with passages like, "The house is empty, couldn't be more empty. The house is full, couldn't be more full. Each room echoes in its emptiness. Echoes with memory." Even the (slight) twist towards the end plays out in this way: "He feels the uniform. He loves the uniform. He despises the uniform. Attracted, repulsed, aware of the pornography, unable to resist." Relatively slow-paced though rich in meaning, this novel has much to offer but likely won't excite readers looking for an action-packed thrill ride.

Two for the Show
Thomas & Mercer (Trade Paperback), May 2016
ISBN-13: 9781503934856; ISBN-10: 1503934853