Camera Obscura
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by Dennis Hicks
Price: $15.00
268 Pages, Paperback, 5.25 x 8.25
ISBN-10: 0-9709092-1-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-9709092-1-3
Euthanasia, murder and betrayal overlap explosively when personal morality, the spirit world and the Catholic Church collide.
About The Author
Dennis Hicks is a psychotherapist living in Venice, California. He is married to author Stephanie Waxman and they have two daughters and two grandchildren.
Customer Reviews
 | Los Angeles Times, 11/18/07 from Los Angeles , CA | | | Once, Peter Winston's father had all the answers. They camped and fished together in the High Sierra. Decades later, his 78-year-old father is afflicted with dementia. "The poorly imagined future had become the present. Peter had promised to pull the plug, but where was the plug?" Peter teaches history at Santa Monica High School. He has a 4-year-old daughter and a pretty good marriage. One day, standing inside the Camera Obscura by the Santa Monica Pier, he sees an old man run over by a bus and suspects that his death is no accident. Westside real estate, the Catholic Church, euthanasia -- slowly but surely, Peter works his way through a variety of ethical dilemmas. "Camera Obscura" is unusual for several reasons, not least of them the Westside setting, which rarely makes it into fiction -- unlike, say, the East Coast suburbs made famous by writers like John Updike and John Cheever. It's also oddly quiet for a mystery-thriller, because much of the action takes place in Peter's head. He's a true everyman, transcending class, ethnicity -- even religion, despite his devotion to Catholicism. The issues he faces as a father, son and member of his community could appear in any life at any time. Confronting them with him reminds you of the great gift of good fiction -- a stage on which we can play out the profound decisions of our lives. |
| David Dworski from Los Angeles , CA | | | �
Through a glass darkly, August 2, 2007
By� David M. Dworski (Los Angeles, CA) -
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Camera Obscura gets out of the starting-gate in a flash, at once setting up its hero as sole witness to a murder--with not a person around who'll believe him. Morally compelled to chase down the crime, he finds himself increasingly isolated and at the mercy of larger Los Angeles social and cultural forces.
With a storyline that seems ripped right out of today's headlines, novelist Dennis Hicks sets up shop in Raymond Chandler's old neighborhood to explore family, faith, greed and goodness while keeping the suspense ticking until the very last page. |
 | Paula Kendall from Los Angeles , CA | | | I just finished reading Camera Obscura and enjoyed it from several vantage points. First, as a teacher of history, it was a gripping story wrapped around several contemporary issues, especially ones involving the Catholic Church. It touches on the obvious problems of the Church�s sexual hypocrisy, but is also concerned with the intriguing problem of the Church and the ethics of its finances. The author obviously has done his homework, not only regarding the Catholic Church in Los Angeles, but also its financial dealings on an international level. Also, as someone who has gone through the death of two elderly parents, the book raised thought provoking questions regarding the issue of personal responsibility and current end-of �life policies. Paula Kendall, West Los Angeles |
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