After a shocking courtroom tragedy, a disturbed Vietnam veteran and the vindictive judge who sent him to prison become an unlikely pair of time travelers in a chaotic multiverse. The fallen angel who rescues them wants to guide them to a radiant new life. But first they must return to the scene of a ghastly crime.
Billy Worster was a naïve teenager ill-prepared for the gruesome realities of war. The sole survivor of a deadly massacre in a Vietnamese jungle, he avoided certain death only because he ran away when the shooting started. Riddled with guilt, he comes home to a dusty Texas farm with post-traumatic stress disorder and the crazy notion that he can fly in and out of parallel worlds.
As Billy struggles with addiction and questions his sanity, he is arrested on a drug charge and ends up in the courtroom of Judge Madeline Johnston, a bitter old judge tormented by a dark secret surrounding her father’s death. She callously tosses Billy into prison, but when a greedy executor files a lawsuit to steal his inherited land, Billy is hauled back to her courtroom in chains, where a stunning twist of fate launches them into the sky on an odyssey of discovery and healing.
Spanning forty years from the jungles of Vietnam through infinite, parallel worlds, Rip the Sky examines how the power of forgiveness can lead us toward a better life, no matter how many worlds we may live in.
“It’s all out there in the sky, all that there ever was, all that might have been, and all that will ever be.”
Rip the Sky by Mark Packard is an amazing psychological study on one man’s response to trauma, stress, and years of guilt. This unique story takes post-traumatic stress disorder to a level so high that it reaches the sky and rips it wide open.
Young Billy Worster from Langtry, Texas, is drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam in 1966, despite being underweight and not too bright. Billy’s reaction during a bloody ambush may have saved his life, but that life is forever chained to two secrets and the inability to cope mentally and physically with the shame and horror. Billy spends the rest of his life desperately trying to crush the past with drugs and alcohol and chasing a utopia in alternate lives accessed through doors in the sky. Welcome to a science fiction/fantasy story that is grounded in philosophical truths about the actions, reactions, and consequences of every single decision ever made.
Rip the Sky is ultimately about choices and forgiveness. We can blame the world when things go awry and slip beyond our control, but how we react is a choice. Forgiveness, especially self-forgiveness, after decades of poor choices can be as elusive as Billy’s dream of reaching a much better alternate life. Outwardly, Billy is plagued with seizures and hallucinations, but inwardly, Billy flies up to the sky and through doors that open into an interlude and different worlds reflecting the choices made and one’s true self.
Can Billy really fly as he truly believes? As the story progresses, the answer slowly sharpens into focus, allowing the reader to view the multiple layers and the bittersweet development of the main character. Rachel Wheeler is a wealthy widow with a lot of land to manage, and she gives Billy a chance by bringing him into the fold as a hired hand, despite knowing about his addictions and odd psychotic episodes. As Billy struggles and sometimes fails to stay sober, he forms a special bond with Rachel over the years. Rip the Sky is not a romance, but the relationship between Billy and Rachel is both sweet and redeeming.
As a Vietnam vet, Billy remains physically and psychologically fragile and broken for the rest of his life, but his perpetual sojourns represent humankind’s constant tug of war with the universe, free will, and the inevitable crossroads. Mark Packard fills Rip the Sky with many genres, such as science fiction, fantasy, dystopia/utopia, mystery, magical realism, and probably many more. This literary fiction is about a man suffering from PTSD, but just below the surface is a gritty, heartbreaking story about forgiveness and redemption and the curious possibility that with every choice we make here in this world, we make a different choice in another.
Armed with top-notch writing ability and a fantastic imagination, Mark Packard presents a dynamic story with an unforgettable main character and plenty of symbolism, imagery, and other literary elements. At the same time, this story is engaging and fast paced, taking you on an extraordinary journey that will linger in your thoughts about your own possible alternate reality.
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I received a free copy of this book from Lone Star Book Blog Tours in exchange for my honest review.
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Thanks so much for your review. I appreciate you so much! Your insight and evaluation amazed me!
What inspired you to start writing in the first place?
As always, an outstanding and thought-provoking review, Ruthie. Thanks so much for so eloquently sharing your thoughts.