Thursday, June 13, 2019

Burton Blake - Robert Tucker










Book Details:

Book Title:  Burton Blake by Robert Tucker
Category:  Adult Fiction, 518 pages
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Publisher:  Tell-Tale Publishing Group LLC / Wise Words Publishing
Release date:  1/06/2019
Tour dates: May 27 to June 28, 2019
Content Rating: G (Depictions of violence are minimal. No bad language, religious expletives, sex scenes, drug use or underage drinking.)

Book Description: 

In this sequel to the well-received The Revolutionist, the American journey of three generations locks the neophyte company president, Burton Blake, in a vicious struggle with corporate intrigue, financial greed, and social corruption. Born to a taxi dancer at the beginning of the Second World War, Burton’s father, Elias Blake, never knows his natural father, who is killed in the South Pacific. He is raised by his mother and stepfather from her second marriage who makes his fortune during the post-war real estate boom of the ’50s. Their untimely death by his business partner leaves the boy Elias in the guardianship of his mother’s best friend and her marine vet husband who introduces him to the macho culture of guns and hunting.

Elias’s youth is influenced by the adult world’s drive for personal material gain. Over the next decades, he expands his parents’ original real estate empire into the diversified multi-divisional, multi-national corporation that he leaves to his son, Burton. Upon his forced return from traveling and working with oppressed third world people, Burton learns increasingly more about the true nature of his deceased father as he undertakes the challenges of leading the company in a new direction.

Thoughts:  

I quite enjoyed the book.  I can't really say what it was, but this book seemed to flow a bit more than The Revolutionist did.  I quite liked Burton, as he definitely was a product of his great-grandmother Julie, who was the main character in The Revolutionist.  And Burton in his own way became a revolutionist in trying to fight against the greed and corruption that had enveloped his father’s company.


I also really liked the first section of the book, which laid the groundwork for the second part and it really set up the conflict that would eventually envelope the second half of the book.

What I would have liked to see more of would be of Burton being able to connect his actions to those that Julie undertook herself back in the early 1900s and to also find out the history behind his father in the second half, as it was more about the conspiracy, which did get a little cumbersome as the book came to its conclusion.  Also I would have tried to use a different title for the book, as I felt it was misleading for the first half of the book and also done a bit more to tie the first part with the second part.    The first part could have easily been its own book and completely separate from the second part, which I felt had little to do with the first part and ignored the first half of the book

I would have also liked to see the book edited a little tighter, as I felt that there were too many details that didn’t make any sense to the overall story and felt that unlike The Revolutionist, which was a continuous story of Julie’s early life, this book felt like two separate stories that had little to do with each other.  I would have liked to see more characters from the first half of the book interact with Burton instead of just Lizzie.

Bottom line: It was a good book overall.  I would have liked to see more links between the first and second part of the book and few more callbacks to The Revolutionist.

Rating: 3.75/5





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Meet the Author: 







 
​Robert is published by Tell-Tale Publishing Group LLC / Wise Words Publishing under a multi-book contract. The author of four previous earlier novels, Robert infuses his books with unique dynamic stories and characters that portray social and cultural conflicts of their time. His career encompasses many years as a business consultant that have given him access to a wide range of organizations and an appreciation for people in all areas of society. His life experience is reflected in the literary quality of his work. Born and raised in the Middle-West, he has traveled throughout the United States and abroad.

Now retired, he resides with his wife in Southern California where he devotes full-time to writing. Robert is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara with a Masters Degree in Communications at the University of California, Los Angeles where he received the Samuel Goldwyn and Donald Davis Literary Awards.

An affinity for family and the astute observation of generational interaction pervade his novels. His works are literary and genre upmarket fiction that address the nature and importance of personal integrity.

Connect with the author:   Website  ~ Twitter ~ Facebook












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