Viaticum – Book Review

Viaticum by author Patrick Morgan

Thank you to author Patrick Morgan for providing me with a copy of his book in exchange for this honest review.

If you are also a self published author and want to know how to get your book reviewed check out my guide for indie authors.

At this point in my life it has become very clear that the old fashioned idea of work hard to get ahead was actually a scam. Some people, many people, maybe even most people, work very hard their whole lives are are never rewarded for it. And guess what, a job well done is not its own reward.

There are, however, the others. The few lucky individuals who are handed everything. They never have to work hard to get ahead, they’re born ahead and keep widening the gap. Every time a door closes for them it’s not a window that’s opened but a big double garage door big enough for their Escalade.

Viaticum is about one of those lucky bastards. Ethan starts off the novel by getting abruptly fired from his job. He’s bewildered and confused by how this could have happened. Yes, he’s been slacking in his position, and yes he never really knew much about it to begin with, but the co-owner is his college buddy! Certainly that counts for everything!

At the beginning of this book I thought it was going to be about a privileged young man finally having to earn his way. But life doesn’t work that way and neither does Viaticum.

Ethan goes to bar to drink away his stress. There, he is offered a new, better position by a mysterious stranger whom he’s never met before. Okay, seriously, I need a new job pretty badly right now, can someone please just hand me one like this!

Of course he is suspicious but he also doesn’t have any other leads. When he starts this new position he is blown away by how amazing it all seems. It’s almost out of this world how great the office, the work, the goals, the boss, all of it seems to be.

Throughout the entire novel there is an air of mystery. The reader keeps waiting for the other shoe to drop. When is this all going to go south? What is the deep dark secret awaiting Ethan? Nothing can be this easy and this great.

Viaticum will keep you reading just to figure this out. It’s not that Ethan is unlikable and we want him to fail, it’s just that we want to see anyone more blessed than us come down to our level.

Reading Viaticum is like reading a common story from the other side. This isn’t a pull yourself up by your bootstraps inspirational tale, it’s more grounded than that. And yet has a nearly supernatural flair to the mystery. You’ll just have to read it to find out.

5/5 desert scenes 🦂🌵🏜🌅☀️

For another great Patrick Morgan read check out Apparent Horizon

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Buy it here: Viaticum