Carol Wood Reviews:

Welcome to the Dunes
By Jack Hasling

I met Jack at a California Writers Club meeting and we both attended the first East of Eden Conference in 2002. We bumped elbows as we left, and I asked him "What are you going to do now?"
"I'm going to write a murder mystery at a writers conference!"
His eyes were glistening with pleasure.

I thought, oh man, that is not going to work. No one wants to read about writers. But here it is two years later, and Jack handed me his book, Welcome to the Dunes and asked me to review it.

Now, when a friend does this it's always a hard review because you don't like to diss a friend. But Jack's book was like popcorn. I just couldn't stop flipping pages. He had interesting characters and the plot was really driven. I did have difficulty figuring out who done it. And that's not the usual for me.

Edna and Phyllis the aging twin sisters reminded me of my sisters. You just want to smack them and tell them to "Settle it for Chris Sakes!" They are always at each other.

"Mother always liked you better. That's why she gave you a bird book."
"Edna, that was over 40 years ago. You never showed any interest in birding."
"I would have if I had a bird book."
"She gave you a canary."
"But it died."
"You fed it dog food."
"How was I to know? I didn't have a bird book."

He writes with comic flair and every one of his characters has an interesting description. Plus basing this book on a conference allowed Jack to portray the process of writing. It's loaded with tips and is an excellent read for a beginner writer because Jack shows what happens - not that we all get murdered, but how to get published.
I really enjoyed it for the genuine characters. Sure he made a woman jump naked from a plane and land at the conference.
But then he gave her a dialog with her husband cohort that made her my life long friend.

"I was just going to tell you --that was a nice jump," he called to her. She didn't respond, "I mean it. I was afraid you were going to run out of beach, but then you nailed it like a pro. I couldn't have done better myself."
She came out of the bathroom in a white terrycloth robe. "I am a pro. You just haven't been paying attention."
"What are you going to do next year for an encore?"
"I don't know, but I suspect it may be something involving a wheelchair. I'm getting too old for this daredevil stuff."

First he makes her jump from a plane with ease and then she says she's getting too old for it. Now, why does that satisfy me so much? I don't know, but I loved it.
Jack's characters are flavorful. His dialogue feels genuine and savvy. And the plot twists enough to keep you hanging on who the heck did it. It's a good read and I recommend it.

To order Welcome to the Dunes:
Wheatmark, Inc.
610 East Delano Street, Suite 104
Tucson, AZ 85705
Phone: 1-888-934-0888
Fax 520-798-3394
ISBN 1-58736-245-7
Retail Price $15.95