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The Elephant Tree
The Elephant Tree
The Elephant Tree
Ebook292 pages5 hours

The Elephant Tree

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Reminiscent of Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting, this debut novel, The Elephant Tree challenges the reader’s sense of morality with shocking plot twists and vivid characters.

Mark Fallon is an overworked detective investigating a spate of attacks at a string of high profile city centre nightclubs. Scott is a dejected 24 year old struggling to make ends meet working for his brother and supplementing his income with a small-scale drug dealing operation. Angela is an attractive 23 year old, raised by her father, a career criminal and small time drug dealer who supplies Scott with cannabis.

This is a chilling tale spanning a few months in the lives of Scott and Angela, where realizations about the present combine with shocking revelations from the past leading to an apocalyptic climax where they no longer know whom they can trust.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 4, 2010
ISBN9781848769533
The Elephant Tree

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Rating: 3.3333333333333335 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

12 ratings3 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    After reading the synopsis I was really eager to get into The Elephant Tree. The premise is a criminal and drug underworld where the protagonist, Scott, surfs around the edges before taking a step too far changing his destiny forever. We witness his struggle to deal with events as they occur, where Scott questions everything he had previously taken for granted and doesn’t know who he can trust. This is the first book I’ve read by Ronald but the setup of the books location, Garden heights, could prove an awesome backdrop for what could come in the future instalments. The writing itself is gripping, even the criminal types and the characters that stand against Scott have their own intrigue. Looking forward to Ronald’s next book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Truth and perception have long been argued to go hand in hand or exist at war, and the idea that things may not always be as they seem that lies at the heart of RD Ronald's dark novel The Elephant Tree. The story follows a young man named Scott - unhappily employed by his brother and selling drugs to supplement his meager income. When a string of crimes strikes the nightclubs owned by Scott's brother and frequented by Scott, Detective Mark Fallon is looking to Scott for answers. Tied into the drama is Angela, Scott's girlfriend who hails from a criminal family and has secrets in her own past.The action builds quickly in the story as Scott and Angela are soon in over their heads and don't know who to trust. The titular Elephant Tree is both real and symbolic in the story. Ronald describes the tree with the following passage,"The growth, when looked upon from the West, clearly gave the appearance of an elephant's head. The contours of the face, an eye, the large ear and even its trunk that ended abruptly where the branch had been sawn off, were intricately defined in the old wood. When slowly moving from this vantage point around to the other side of the tree and looking from the East, the face would begin to change. The elephant's features would appear to melt and run into one another before re-gathering form and appearing as human."(p. 36)From one side an elephant and from the other a man, the tree is a great representation of a single thing appearing remarkably different depending on perception; and it was this creative use of metaphor that really drew me into the book. A small time drug dealer seems an unlikely hero and yet Scott is a captivating character. Gripping and engaging, Roland's thriller is a well written and fast paced book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I completely devoured this book. I couldn't put it down. I had to know what was going to happen next. It did have some slow moments but for the most part it was a fast read. It even had it's funny moments.Scott and Angela are pretty interesting characters and they are well developed. The plot and the writing are great.Even though this book was good, I can't see myself reading it again. It's just one of those one time reads. At least it is for me.

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The Elephant Tree - R D Ronald

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