THOUSAND OAKS, Calif., Aug. 20, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- In this deceptively simple novel, a distinguished cop is swept into a series of mysterious events, including a baffling investigation that affects him personally. Jay Stephens' first novel, Confluence, is a tapestry of the tangible and the spiritual, a fecund philosophical and spiritual work that is embedded within a thrilling suspense novel. As the protagonist tries to solve a crime, we are taken into an alternative world that will make us question long-held notions about time, the nature of the human spirit, and existence.
Detective Lieutenant Martin Magnus is esteemed by his colleagues. A victim of pedophilia, he has become an incorrigible womanizer as an adult. After two failed marriages, he successively falls for three women-his psychiatrist, a woman half his age, and a degenerate schemer. The first leads him to the second, Linda Jordan, whom he entangles in his investigation and causes serious harm. The last is Virginia Schultz, a morally corrupt woman, who ironically leads him to his spiritual redemption.
In Confluence, Stephens hides in a suspense novel an exploration of the nature of the human spirit. The protagonist seeks himself, as his self is seeking him. The author weaves into the plot, quite successfully, a medley of ideas both material and mystical-pedophilia, interracial unions, lust, sex, infinite parallel universes, reincarnation, and recollection of past lives. This aptly titled novel spins together mystery, suspense, romance, and spiritualism.
About the Author
Jay Stephens is a Philadelphia native currently residing with his wife in southern California. He earned a doctoral degree at Temple University and has retired from a career in health services. He has three sons, two of whom are married, but no grandchildren yet.
His hobbies are golf, hiking, deep-sea fishing, and most of all gourmet cooking. He has taught culinary classes and has written a yet-unpublished cookbook titled The Ad Lib Gourmet: Or How to Soar in the Kitchen without a Flight Plan. He is working on two other completely different novels.
Confluence -- By Jay Stephens
A Novel
Publication Date: July 12, 2004
Trade Paperback; $21.99; 251 pages; 1-4134-4494-6
Cloth Hardback; $31.99; 251 pages; 1-4134-4495-4
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