Book Review
Thank you to Aaron D McClelland for providing me a copy for an honest review!
Banks cleans and processes the money brought in from Duncan’s illegal drug deals. He also hears and sees everything that happens within the gang. He sees the difference as Bethany enters the trailer park, and begins to wrap Mac around her thumb. He watches as greed begins to infest members of the gang, and begins to doubt Mac’s ambition. The violence and tragedy he will witness are worthy of a Shakespeare retelling.
Never before have I been unable to put down a story based on Shakespeare. Mac & Beth is the best retelling of Shakespeare I have ever read. All the key players were on the board from the original play but rebranded into gangsters and fortune-tellers living in a trailer park. Instead of sword fights and long winded soliloquies, it was brutal gun battles and drama fueled action scenes.
Aaron D. McClelland did an excellent job of humanizing the gang members. Seeing Banks in his day to day life builds empathy and compassion with the reader. And even though you know all the characters are peddling drugs and committing murder, you can’t help but sympathize with them. Would you really blame Banks for killing someone to protect his family?
Modernized Shakespeare at its finest, Mac & Beth stays true to the overall plot and themes found in the original play. Readers looking for a tragic hero will certainly find one. And it will tear you apart to watch the downfall. Even knowing what was going to happen, I kept wishing for a different outcome. Aaron D. McClelland can retell any Shakespeare play and I will be sure to read it.
To Purchase: Amazon
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About the Author
Aaron D McClelland was born and raised in East Vancouver, intimately familiar with the underbelly of organized crime and the streets where many of his stories take place. Aaron has written professionally for 40 years, crafting stories, articles, and plays that other people wanted. Now he is writing for himself about a breed of people he's known his entire life in all their imperfect glory.
In Aaron's novels, the gangsters win - cops and courts are just background noise. He will immerse you in a world where crime is the norm, where bad guys have a conscience. His characters fall in love, have children, and sometimes have their hearts broken. The women in his stories are strong and as imperfect as their male counterparts; they sweat, swear, laugh, and love deeply without restraint. If you want perfect characters, read someone else's books. If you want people you can relate to, read his.
Aaron now lives in a sleepy lakeside community in the Okanagan region of British Columbia where tourists come to die.