The Standard Grand by Jay Baron Nicorvo: A Review

Bellum has gone AWOL and left her husband and home in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.  She is already suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from her past deployments and can't stomach the idea of another one.  She follows an older veteran that has set up a camp for homeless veterans called The Standard Grande.  Milt inherited The Standard Grande, an old resort in the Catskills, from his father-in-law and uses it to help veterans become more self-sufficient and acclimate to coming home from a war environment.  Milt is under water on the venture, though, and is being aggressively pursued by a company that wants to use the land for what they say is a golf resort.  The veterans aren't so sure that is the real purpose, though.

This book just didn't hit the spot for me.  Most of the story dragged.  I didn't find it humorous and the mystery wasn't enough to keep my attention.  I actually had to leave this book several times and come back to it while reading other books in order to finish it.  There were some questions that I had throughout the book but the book ended without ever answering those questions, ruining any chance of any mystery with a climactic ending.  The writing is strange and very choppy.  I did enjoy Bellum's character and Bellum's story about her childhood and marriage made me understand why she did certain things later.  Most of the characters were very interesting but I think I enjoyed their back stories more than I enjoyed the story about The Standard Grande and IRJ's reasons for wanting to buy it.  This book did have some information about PTSD but I think I would have enjoyed the story more if it had focused on those aspects.  Overall, I just didn't like this book.  I think it would be good for someone that enjoys military banter and doesn't mind when a mystery is not solved at the end of a novel.  It just wasn't my cup of tea, though.   

Watch a video about how EMDR works for victims of PTSD and other types of trauma:

    

My rating:
★★☆☆☆

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