Book Review: 'Wrath' by W.S. Klass

W.S. Klass is truly a master of his craft and brings us a tale that offers a little bit of everything: Gunfights, superhuman beings, assassins, corrupt politicians, a child in peril, a mental patient that is actually perfectly sane but in fact possessed, and a good cop who is determined to put a stop to the evil that he has discovered runs throughout his superiors and goes all the way right to the top.

Who else would have thought that a supernatural hero from beyond the grave could so seamlessly be woven into a tale of corrupt politicians, human trafficking, murder, conspiracy, and those that seek to bring it to an end? And then have the talent to write the tale so flawlessly that it is impossible to put down.

W.S. Klass gives us all of this in his novel, Wrath.

A paranoid-schizophrenic suffers from delusions and dissociative identity disorder. This diagnosis is new to him, having no mental health history in his family prior to his recent affliction. Bennett Andrews is a known transient that dwells in Reno Nevada and lives off of the tourists he pan handles from. He finds himself missing a chunk of his memories and awakens in a mental institution in Washington DC, having no idea how he got there. After suffering from an alternate identity his psychiatrist, Doctor Victoria Tabbott, accidentally discovers is the name of a detective from LA who died in a car accident with his family in Reno—near where Bennett lived—she becomes curious and investigates it further. Uniting with Special Agent Anthony Hauck, the three of them, along with Bennett's alternate personality, unravel a dark government conspiracy and secrets to Bennett's diagnosis that baffle the most intelligent scientists and doctors. They uncover a plot that puts them all in danger of being assassinated by the government they believe in. The actions and paths taken unlock a mysterious paranormal phenomenon that calls itself "Wrath."

The tale, set in modern-day America, of a good cop who comes back from the grave to avenge the murder of his wife and rescue his young daughter from the grip of those who assassinated him before adding his young daughter to a shipment of cruelly treated women and children who are to be as slaves.

With an excellent understanding of the human mind, its reaction to grief, desperation, and the overwhelming power of love, W.S. Klass has created characters that I found I felt an instant empathy for, winning me over to support their cause and keeping me turning pages far into the early hours of the morning…

… even, might I add, on a night before an important appointment and when my intention to only read one chapter had started off strong.

Just as Klass manipulates his characters on the page, he also manipulates our emotions as readers. We find that we feel their every heartache and disappointment, we elate at their victories, and we want to warn them the perils that lurk around every corner.

Whilst Wrath is largely fantastical in its nature, it also deals with many situations that are all too relevant to the world in which we live.

Many of the characters that we meet within those pages could quite easily be those currently in power, running our countries, manipulating our laws and police forces, those that we see on TV, or those that protect our streets…

… just as the equivalent of the heroes of this tale could as easily be walking amongst us, unknown, unrecognised, and, as of yet, untested.

This was a tale that was virtually impossible to let alone and turn away from until it was told.

This is a tale that crosses many genres, thus meaning that its pages could as easily ensnare readers of a variety of tastes… just as it did me.