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Broken - A Camp Refuge Story
by Wayne Gray

Reviewer: Parker Owens
Status: Complete
Word Count: 38,510

Broken is the fourth story in Wayne Gray’s Camp Refuge series. The story revolves around Lee, a young man with a horrific past and who has drawn the interest of the police. Camp Refuge is the last stop, the last chance, before getting swallowed up by the legal system.

There are many stories about men like Lee, stories which tell of those ill-used by circumstance and fortune who are given last chances. Few such tales engage and hold the reader as well as this one.

What makes this story so engaging is the way in which the many vivid and well-drawn characters have their own narratives and subplots intertwined. Even as Lee’s tale unfolds, we watch others simultaneously branch and blossom. In each chapter, the reader cannot help celebrating the joys each character experiences and worrying over their troubles and setbacks. Each part supports and adorns the main story, until they are all brought together in a most satisfying resolution.

Broken also tackles difficult questions: how many chances should a person get? How do we know when to trust and take a chance on someone? The author does not give us an easy answer – such choices in life can be messy and fraught. But in the end, we are shown how it might work out. Broken is not merely a story which restores one’s view of the world. Wayne Gray makes the reader want to go out and change the world for the better.

This is a story by a gifted writer.  Pull up a folding chair and spend some time at Camp Refuge. Get to know Lee and all the characters who live there. You’ll be very glad you did.  

Category: Fiction  Genres: Drama, Romance  Tags: young adult, gay, rural, anal, serious, fostering, modern, friendship  Rating: Mature