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Novel by Patricia Watts
Reviewed by Pennell Paugh
December 8, 2024 (San Diego) -- San Diego author Patricia Watts writes in her novel Paper Targets about Roanne, who never got angry — until the night she killed her ex-husband and herself.
Roanne and her best friend, Connie, went to high school together and became suburban wives at the same time. Roanne runs a Hallmark shop and Connie becomes a mystery writer as well as cupcake shop owner.
During a phone call to Connie, Roanne confesses to murder, then puts the gun to her own head while Connie listens in. We see the aftershock through Connie’s point of view.
Below is an excerpt from the book:
February 2019
A slurp and a gulp. The knock of something solid against the surface next to the phone. Common noses on the other end of the line — she’s taking a drink, setting down a glass.
Then — the ear-splitting boom of a gunshot, the shallow thud of a weight hitting the floor.
I scream her name.
No noises now.
My best friend is dead.
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At Roanne’s funeral reception, the eagerness for answers was thicker than the abundant short ribs set out next to the potato salad and baked beans. The guests had no appetite. They wanted to sink their teeth into why Roanne chose to die in the way she did. And they were all looking to me, her closest friend for fifty years.”
Connie strives to reclaim her inner power and to make peace with the loss of her treasured friend, Her mission is to avoid the same tragic path as Roanne, but just in case, she takes along a gun, as she confronts those who acutely hurt her over the years including a bully brother, a rapist, an ex-spouse, and her father.
Paper Targets shows us the magnificence of a friendship that transcends time. Also, the book explains what it was like to grow up in America for baby boomer women. If they wanted to claim their autonomy and self-respect, they had to overcome major traumas inflicted by bosses and lovers, as well as make a stand against social norms for women. This is a moving book that I recommend to adults, young and old.
Copies of Paper Targets are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and through Atmosphere Press websites.
Patricia Watts worked as a journalist for more than twenty years for newspapers in Texas, Hawaii, and Alaska. Following her news career, she tried her skill as a paralegal and then spent ten years investigating discrimination cases for the Alaska Human Rights Commission. Her other novels include: Ghost Light (2020, Bowhead Press) and The Big Empty (2018, SoHo Press), co-written with Alaska author Stan Jones; The Frayer (2017, Golden Antelope Press); and Watchdogs (SheWrites Press, 2013).
After 30 years in Alaska, Watts moved to San Diego seven years ago where she works as a freelance editor and proofreader. She earned her BA in journalism at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California, and her degree in paralegal studies from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She is currently working on a collection of short stories. To learn more about the author visit her at: http://patriciaawattsauthor.com/.
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