Review: A Day in the Life by Lucas Whorley

So another local author, albeit a much younger than me local author, has written and self-published a book. I've only met him very briefly, but we have mutual friends who recommended I read his book. I thought that I would review the book now that I have read it. I was really impressed considering where he grew up (same town I did LOL) and his age.
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In A Day in the Life by Lucas Whorley suicidal Adam is convinced to leave his apartment and socialize by his closest, but not that close anymore, friend Randy. Adam’s surly attitude leaves the atmosphere in each scene raw and dirty, but in a way so realistic that you feel you are witnessing the story unfold just a table over from where you are seated in Four Season’s Café.

You follow Adam reluctantly (but only because Adam’s own reluctance is painted so realistically) through his day with Randy and Randy’s two-timing on again, off again girlfriend Lindsey. Through this day you meet Lindsey’s jaded sister Kimmy and travel with the group to a park for some “fun” and then to the backwoods of Grayson County for a brawling shindig where secrets spill forth from drunken lips and people's actions are loosened by their affinity for the drink and other substances. The book ends rather suddenly and through the descriptions I wasn't at first sure what happened, this is one area where the story could be polished up a little, but once I figured things out I was a little shocked by the character's reactions, or lack thereof, to the event. But then I remembered who had inspired the characters in this story and realized that their reaction was true to life. 

While the book is incredibly short, more of a short story than a novella, it is well written. There are some rough edges to it that could be smoothed out and the formatting is lacking in several places in the paperback copy that I purchased. But for a self-published book it stands strong compared to many others that I have read in the past.