SOUL SURVIVOR – Jeanne Glidewell
Five Star
ISBN: 978-1-59414-948-1
February 2011
Romantic Suspense

Kansas , United States and Bombay , India – 1936 to 2001

Zoe Robbins is worried about her five-year-old daughter, Skylar.  At times Zoe catches Skye staring off into space, a blank expression on her face, and during the night she has horrific nightmares.  Today, she wrote her name as RADHA and told Zoe it was her “other” name when she was fifteen.  Fifteen?   Things escalate from that moment; the nightmares worsen, and Zoe takes Skye to her pediatrician, who advises she see a psychologist who specializes in reincarnation.  Unable to believe what is happening to her daughter, Zoe finally begins to accept the fact that Skye's soul is that of a girl from Bombay , India , who died mysteriously when she was just fifteen.  To help their daughter, Zoe and her husband, Trey, fly to India .  There, Skye leads them to the neighborhood where she grew up as Radha, and they meet Radha's brother, Mohandas, now grown, and her aging mother, Asha.

Meanwhile, flashback to 1936 Wyoming , where Juan Torres has decided to travel to India to work in the cotton mills.  The United States is held fast in the grip of the terrible Depression; there is no work, no way to keep the farm going.  Juan doesn't sell the family farm; he just leaves, planning to keep the taxes paid while he and his three young sons work in the cotton factories of India until they save enough money to come home.

SOUL SURVIVOR is a story of the reincarnation of five-year-old Skylar Robbins, who one day begins to remember her past life as Radha Joshi.  Day by day, Skylar fights through terrible nightmares that trouble her from her past life.  Her parents are hoping to find answers to Skye's problems in India .  While there they learn about Radha's life, but still do not solve the mystery of her death.

The chapters of SOUL SURVIVOR flash back and forth from the Robbins in 2001 to the Torres family in 1936.  With each day that passes in 2001 India , the years march on for the Torres family while their story slowly meshes with Radha's.  When the Robbinses return home, Skye's nightmares continue and the story takes an unexpected twist.

SOUL SURVIVOR is a novel that borders on fantasy.  There are some contradictions in the character interactions at the beginning of the story, but they settle down into a predictable pattern as we move through the chapters.  I found it odd, however, that a struggling Kansas farmer suddenly has the finances to spend a week in Bombay investigating his daughter's strange actions.  Still, this is a tale of fortitude, new beginnings, tragic endings and, all in all, it is entertaining.

Diana Risso