Review: Scarecrow Has a Gun

Scarecrow Has a Gun by Michael Paul Kozlowsky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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First and foremost, I absolutely loved this book.  Although as a general rule, sci-fi is out of my wheel house, Scarecrow Has a Gun is so well-written that it seemed a natural process to suspend any disbelief. Author Michael Paul Kozlowsky takes a completely impossible premise, brings it to life as plausible and forces the reader to reassess everything they thought of as tangible and real.

The star of this show is main character Sean Whittlesea, a widower who lost his wife in a violent encounter when his son was still a toddler. Almost twenty years later, we find Sean with a second child and a new love.  Although his mind refuses to unlock the details surrounding that fateful day his wife was murdered, he has managed to rebuild his life.  It is on the job, however, that Sean is challenged to reassess his reality, as the author forces Sean and the reader to reconsider the accuracy and accountability of “memory”.  An involuntary member of the “Widowers’ Club”, Sean is, on a regular basis, forced to participate in sadistic “competitions” from which only one member emerges victorious. While the losers trudge back to their everyday existence, the winner rises through the company ranks, bestowed with new life, new wealth and the ability to fulfill his wildest dreams.  When Sean finally finds himself on the winning end of one of these mind-bending challenges, he is presented with a gift—a box that allows him to see, in real time, every moment of his life.  What is at first seen as the answer to Sean’s relentless pursuit of the truth regarding his wife’s death quickly morphs into an existential crisis.  How much of what we remember is based on reality and how much do we spackle over it, patching the holes with material that we mold to suit our needs?  

Kozlowsky creates in Sean Whittlesea an “Everyman” of sorts.  Although not all of us experience such profound tragedy, most of us have moments in our lives to which we wish we could return—to see those events again unfold with the benefit of hindsight.  Just how accurate are those memories we retain?  How much of the minutiae is simply “filled in” by details we remember not in reality but as a result of a need to soften the moment and make us appear more human—more compassionate—more altruistic?  These are the questions with which Sean struggles, and in doing so, instills an element of unease in each of us as we examine the entire process of simply “remembering”.   It is in author Kozlowsky’s ability to make us turn inward while accompanying Sean on his own journey that the absolute brilliance of this book is grounded.

Incredible character development, a unique and clever plot, and twists the reader won’t see coming make this an early contender for the Best of 2022.  Five big gold stars and a thank you to NetGalley and Imbrifex Books for the ARC.  The expected publication for this book is August of 2022.