D.L. Shiloh's dark novel looks at emotional abuse in society.
ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS - Worshiped football hero, former Olympian, corporate spokesman. It's not a tale about a typical abusive man – but a new novel deftly shows an overlooked form of abuse that doesn't get seen by the public: emotional abuse.
POOKOO, by D.L. Shiloh, details the up-and-down story of Katlin Hillmacher, a former sports star who is on a downslide after the glory fades.
“I originally wanted to call the book “The Real Truth” because it showed a real side behind the facade. We get to know the true inside story, a story that goes beyond headlines and sound bites told by an insider,” Shiloh said. “I named the first chapter that. That glossy magazine look of life is stripped away. Time and again Katlin is an emotional abuser. He's in such despair that he's a serial suicide. In that way he's emotionally abusive. He's also going after sexual conquests all the time. That way he's also abusive. And the kicker is that in the end he's still regarded as some legend.”
The book took Shiloh 17 years to complete, which allowed him to build layers that normally aren't in a usual novel. “I have my favorite books, which I've re-read, so that's what I went after. There's enough to get out of one time, but POOKOO was made to be read a second or third time.”
The darkness that pervades POOKOO tends to leave readers with a less-than likable feeling toward Katlin. But Shiloh says a strange phenomenon has occurred with readers who've read the story more than once. “"He's a villain and hero. They feel sympathy that wasn't there on the first read. A second look makes it deeper. It doesn't excuse any of his behavior but it might explain some things."
POOKOO, which is a print-on-demand title, is also currently available for a free digital download from http://www.pookoo.net or http://www.dlshiloh.com. It is not currently available in stores, but is sold at Amazon.com.
Pookoo: a satire of celebrity
$10 USD
190 pages
ISBN: 1438248164
EAN-13: 9781438248165
www.dlshiloh.com
www.pookoo.net
Homefield Multimedia
P.O. Box 16314
Loves Park, IL 61132-6314
Tel. 815-639-0769
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
