F.D. Bersey Jr.'s "Love's Worth" starts out, innocently enough, with a woman deciding to leave her husband because of his infidelities. On her way out the door, she is abducted by Spanish-speaking toughs, forced to submit to numerous sexual acts against her will and left for dead by the side of a road leading to a lake outside Virginia, Minn. -- and that's just in the prologue.
The story picks up with private investigator Nick Turner finding her near-lifeless body on his way to his lake cabin. Instead of alerting the proper law enforcement agencies (as logic would dictate), Bersey instead has his character take this woman to his cabin and nurse her back to health. And since Turner is not, by any means, a licensed caregiver, he enlists the help of his war buddy, a -- get this -- psychiatrist.
However, those demonstrations of flawed logic by the Spokane author's characters aren't even the novel's most unappealing aspect.
First of all is the issue of incessant Vietnam references. The author served in Vietnam from 1966 to 1967, and, as one would expect, his Nick Turner character also spent some time fighting over there. Instead of casually mentioning it, though, Bersey beats it over the readers' heads until it becomes so aggravating that they cringe upon each reference. It's like those guys who played football in high school, but just can't get over it -- terms like "glory days" plague each and every conversation they ever have for the rest of their lives.
Or there's the subplot of Turner's cocaine-addled wife leaving him for a "dyke." Besides being more than a little absurd, it comes across as strikingly homophobic.
ADVERTISEMENT
But the true "honor" for the book's worst aspect definitely goes out to the lack of editing skills that went into preparing it for publication. "Love's Worth" may have been released by a self-publishing mill, Author House, but that is no excuse for juvenile writing skills.
This novel is so ripe with grammatical errors and misplaced punctuation that it's almost impossible to read.
That is really a shame, considering that this absurd tale actually picks up steam late in the game and becomes mildly interesting as Nick Turner and his comrades unravel the mysteries of the woman's "situation" -- in addition to some other dramatic goings-on that won't be spoiled here. However, until someone comes in and edits this rough draft of a bad ride, it should be relegated to the very bottom of your library "to borrow" list.
For more information on "Love's Worth," visit www.authorhouse.com .
