Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Strong Medicine
AUTHOR: J. K. Hogan
PUBLISHER: Wilde City Press
LENGTH: 289 Pages
RELEASE DATE: May 18, 2016
BLURB:
Two men who meet in a psychiatric institution couldn’t possibly find happiness together—could they?
The world seemed to be telling disgraced former child star and singer Cameron Fox that he would never be happy again. A drunken car accident gets him sentenced to a work release program at Riverbend Behavioral Health Facility.
Reclusive, traumatized writer Jonah Radley has an entire graveyard of skeletons in his closet. Jonah regularly hospitalizes himself for psychotic episodes caused by a horrific childhood trauma, his biggest secret—one he refuses to speak about in therapy.
Jonah and Cameron form a bond inside the hospital, forged in mutual pain and hope for a better life. Once they leave the hospital, they must decide if they are brave enough to explore the intricacies of living with mental illness—and find a new normal together.
REVIEW:
The minute I read the blurb on this book, I added it to my request list at Love Bytes. Not only the blurb, but the cover grabbed me. I’ll admit it, I’m a cover guy. I’ve bought more books over the years based on a covers than on blurbs, so a good one catches my eye immediately! I’m not sure how I managed to get this book, since Donna has reviewed all the works from this author in the past. Can I just say how very happy I was to get the chance? I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and can’t wait to read other works from the author in the near future. I’m ashamed to say that one of them, Shadows Fall, has been in my TBR pile for months! I’ll have to bump it up in the stack!
So let’s talk about Strong Medicine. Ms. Hogan brings us a tale of two broken men, both with some serious background issues, who meet up in, of all places, a behavioral health facility. Cameron Fox is a former child star, well known from a syndicated television show he starred in during his teen years, when he was a teen heartthrob. After the show, he and his siblings continued their careers as a popular singing group, of which Cameron was the lead singer. But all that changed when Cam got into a fairly serious accident while drunk, and got the option of going to jail for a year, or going to work at Riverside Behavioral Health with the added stipulation that he attend regular substance abuse and other counseling sessions while there. He grudgingly takes the deal, but isn’t sure that he needs the counseling. It doesn’t help when his father, who is the stereotypical overbearing stage dad/manager of the band, in the best interests of the group, throws Cam out of the group. On top of that, Cam doesn’t realize he has been living under a cloud of depression since his mom, who was the only one who knew he was gay, passed a few years before, and that he has just been stumbling through life without a goal or focus. He knows that hiding his sexuality from his family has pushed him over the edge. Working at Riverside might be a good fit for him, if he gives it a chance. His attitude is get through his year and move on, or so he thinks.
Then one day Cam notices a man huddled up in a rocking chair in the group area at the facility. The man seems to be a magnet…drawing Cam to his side. The man’s first words, if I remember correctly, were something like “I know you.” and “I used to be in love with you.” Pretty startling under normal circumstances, but remember Cam is a former teen heartthrob.
The man in the chair turns out to be Jonah Radley. Jonah has been in and out of Riverside for years, since his mother passed away there. But it isn’t anything to do with his mother’s death which causes him to voluntarily check himself in a couple times a year. Jonah sees things. He sees his dead mother, he sees his father…who is very much alive but incarcerated, he sees fire, and he sees shocking reminders of his past. When Jonah was a young boy, he was witness to some truly horrific events. He hasn’t been able to talk to anyone about them since.
Something draws the two men together. Obviously there are rules against fraternization, but Cam is the first person that Jonah has ever considered telling his story to. The tale that grows from that point kept me enraptured. I actually got up this morning early to go to the gym, and then made a 90 degree turn to pick up my kindle and finish this book. I can work out anytime!
I want to finish with a little bit of raving about this lady’s writing style. The characters seemed so very real to me. She took us inside their heads, and gave us both viewpoints so expertly that I feel I know both of the main characters. There were also very well written and developed background characters, and the world building of the facility and the small town were perfectly meshed. Excellent job Ms. Hogan. You’ve definitely gained a new fan! My one and only complaint…and it is small…I really hoped that Cam would go back to help Jaxon. I know the story moved away from the facility, but I had hoped to hear what happened to him.
I very highly recommend this book.
RATING: 
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Great review! This is definitely going on my TBR.