I haven’t laughed out loud on an airplane for a long time. Seriously — I know it’s scary when the person next to you on a plane bursts into hysterical laughter. So, I try and avoid it. It helped that I was mostly sitting next to my husband on our recent trip home from Cancun when I was reading Geoffery Wood’s first time novel Leaper, but still, I know that my sudden hiccups of hilarity made a few people wonder just what, if anything, I picked up from Mexico.

Fear not, I’m a good girl, I am. But I do love a funny book, and when it is rife with great dialogue, I can’t help it but read out. Which I did. On the plane. Basically, Leaper is a Urban Myth novel about a guy who — Leaps. Like Quantum Leaps (A show I love) but through space instead of time. For example, the book opens with him on an acupuncturist’s table when he suddenly leaps into his ex-wife’s garage. He doesn’t know how, or why, (and the ensuing scene with his ex will produce tears of laughter), and he spends the rest of the book trying to figure out how and why to use this skill, and where God fits into the picture. Imaginative and thought-provoking, the BEST part about this book is the dialogue. It’s crisp, with few dialogue tags, and exactly what good dialogue should do — help the reader see the characters without having to pad it with too much description.

Consider this tiny excerpt of crisp dialogue:

“Meg, can I tell you something?”
She puts her hands on her hip, drops her chin. “If you tell me you love me, I swear, I’ll crush your collarbone with that brass lamp.”
I have always feared that heavy brass lamp.
“Just listen. Okay, Meg? Listen to the whole thing till I hold up three fingers, and then you’ll know I’m done. three fingers. Like a Boy Scout. Okay? But listen to the whole thing before you choose how to hurt and destroy me.”
She stops blinking.
“Like a Boy Scout. Okay?”
Her nostrils flare.
“Good. I’ll take those flared nostrils as you saying the letters O and K.”

And it goes on. Hilarious! If you’re looking for a book rich in dialogue and witty writing, this is the one to get. Enjoy!

Leaper: The Misadventures of a Not Necessarily Superhero By Geoffrey Wood

*********************
Sign up now for our monthly, Book Therapy blog feed and get:

5 Secrets to a Best-Selling Novel

Frustrated? Confused? …Dreaming of the day when an editor calls and says, “I MUST publish your book?” Don’t laugh — it could happen! It does happen – all the time – and you could be next! What’s holding you back? Flat characters? A Saggy plot? Lackluster writing? Let the Book Therapists help. We believe that deep inside every troubled story lies a deep-seated problem. But it’s not beyond hope… Your book simply needs therapy. Stop by MY BOOK THERAPY and…get published!