- ASIN: B0FKX146VX
- Publisher: Copywrite, Ink. Writing Services, Inc.
- Publication date: October 21, 2025
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 345 pages
- ISBN-13: 979-8988881667
- Genre: Psychological Literary Fiction
The BookViral Review:
Richard R. Becker’s Born On Monday is a taut, emotionally charged literary thriller that fuses crime, weather-borne chaos, and the psychological gravity of a small town’s long-buried sins. Set in Augusta, Maine, the novel ties together three vivid storylines—those of Billy Stevens, Jessica Michaud, and reporter Andrea Kearney—until each thread tightens into a single, devastating convergence.
Becker opens with subtle unease: Billy, a quarry worker with a life stunted by grief, crosses paths with Jessica for the first time in years. Jessica’s storyline initially appears domestic—caring for her mother, navigating old emotions—but quickly expands into something darker. The chilling phone messages referencing the Solomon Grundy rhyme (“took ill on Thursday… worse on Friday”) immediately set the tone, signalling the re-emergence of her abusive ex, Kyle Brondi
But Born On Monday is not content with a single antagonist. Becker layers danger, trauma, and consequence across the community. Autumn Larkstrom’s assault—rendered with sharp, unsettling realism—deepens the novel’s portrait of how predatory behavior ripples outward in towns where people often look the other way. Her murder intensifies Billy’s existing guilt—particularly around his failure to protect Stacy Brenner in high school—and reinforces his determination not to fail Jessica when a nor’easter closes in
Jessica’s arc remains the emotional backbone of the novel, but not because of extended hospital scenes or deep family history. Becker keeps her mother’s illness as a light but persistent pressure—an emotional undercurrent that shapes Jessica’s decisions without ever overtaking the central narrative. These brief domestic moments function as contrast rather than subplot, highlighting what Jessica stands to lose as the storm intensifies and both Kyle and Dustin close in around her.
Andrea Kearney, the investigative reporter threading through the narrative, provides an ethical counterweight to Billy. Her pursuit of the truth about Dustin Fields exposes him not merely as unstable, but as a serial rapist whose victims—including those from his high-school past—were systematically silenced or ignored. This corruption deepens the long-standing animosity between Billy and Dustin—rooted in what Billy witnessed and failed to stop in their youth—and heightens the stakes of their final confrontation. Andrea’s later decision to help stage the crime scene becomes one of the story’s most provocative turns, underscoring the novel’s central question: in a town shaped by power, secrets, and generational abuses, what does justice truly look like?
When the nor’easter finally arrives, it doesn’t build gradually but crashes into the story as a sudden, high-stakes catalyst. Rather than serving as a slow atmospheric backdrop, the storm acts as an accelerant—cutting power, severing phone lines, overwhelming emergency services, and trapping characters at the exact moment Jessica’s kidnapping unfolds. Its arrival tightens the narrative dramatically, forcing Billy, Andrea, and Jessica’s mother into desperate, immediate action as danger spikes and the window for survival narrows.
The epilogue offers a measured, moving release. Months after the storm, Jessica and Billy stand at Muriel Michaud’s graveside—a final chapter that trades tension for reflection. Grief, community, and connection shape the closing pages, proving Becker’s ability to balance darkness with genuine emotional resonance.
Born On Monday is atmospheric, morally complex, and deeply human—a thriller that succeeds not through spectacle, but through its piercing exploration of fear, choice, and the quiet resilience of ordinary people pushed to their limits.
It is an unreservedly recommended Golden Quill read!
