The Elusive Mr. McCoy: A Novel by Brenda L. Baker

The Elusive Mr. McCoy: A Novel. Brenda L. Baker.  New American Library: Penguin USA Inc.  July 2012. Paperback. 336 Pages. ISBN #: 9780451236890.

Jake, a former cop and detective and now a private investigator, is having a Starbucks while scoping out the other customers, a natural habit acquired from years of criminal and other detective work.  He notices a man who looks rather nondescript but seems to animate the barista serving the man after some unheard comments pass between them.  As he approaches Jake, he suddenly spills his coffee and blacks out!

So begins this tale of a man carrying two licenses with two different first names and the same last name.  But it's not only about his real identity but the real identity of the two women in his life who both are  absolutely astonished at the life he was leading unknown to both of them.  Who is the real Mrs. McCoy?  Is Eric or Daniel McCoy a terrorist, an artist, a farmer, a total liar?

Meet Kendra, an anally successful catering business woman who barely thinks about her husband when he isn't home from his supposedly government analyst job.  Now she's not sure what he is and realizes her financial situation is about to crash; but more importantly, she begins to question who she has really been to her husband and everyone around her.  The volcanic internal crack is traumatic, assisted by Jake's non-judgmental presence, and one that could go either way.

Then there's Lesley who decides to use the pregnancy test before her husband returns home, although she knows she should really share the precious moment with him.  She's really more like a sidekick of her mother and aunt than she is her own person. But she knows that what she's found in Dave is real and that there's some serious wrong involved in the present debacle. But she will have to form her own acceptance on her own rational and emotional terms, separately from her domineering female relatives.  The process is more than worth the pain of the journey!

Brenda L. Baker has penned an unusual story about how and time and circumstances cause a person to evolve in goals and desires in a world that doesn't allow for such changes at all.  But the one sure phenomena that's guaranteed is change, and all the dynamic characters in this story, including Jake the P.I., must "roll with the punches," grow up and follow where the road leads, like it, love it, or not!  ...Mr. McCoy is a hoot - read it and grow!