The Keeper

In the 1930s, author Frederick Schiller Faust gave us a young me

In the 1930s, author Frederick Schiller Faust gave us a young medical intern by the name of Dr. James Kildare, a character who appeared for decades in movies, TV shows, radio shows, and even a comic strip.

Like Dr. Kildare, Dr. Christopher Seacrest, the main character in The Keeper, a first novel from R.L. Mosz, is young, handsome, debonair, and works with an older doctor he looks up to. Chris Seacrest, however, is not an intern; rather, he is chief of staff at a world-famous medical center, an accomplished neurosurgeon at the age of 34.

Our story is told in a simple, third person voice without judgmental exposition. Mosz does a good job with her details, and inserts another nod to the Dr. Kildare legacy by mentioning the double glass doors at the medical center seven times.

The character POVs are consistent and their personality details telling: Harlan’s love of birds, Chris’ special pen, Caitlin’s grungy truck-driving neighbor at the farm, Denver’s friends sitting on the floor to eat their vegetarian dinner, Danny’s outrage at Chris not attending an important meeting. Dialogue and scenes are used in all the right places. The medical complex, the country farm, the organic restaurant, the manor, even the open-air market are all described very nicely. Location is somewhere on the East Coast but this is not emphasized and the story could have taken place anywhere.

In many scenes, Mosz lets the setting enhance the mood, as we see with Danny at the funeral. Mosz is also good at having the characters act in ways that reflect how they feel about their surroundings. However, the settings don’t slow down the action. Mosz is good at choosing the right places to either move ahead or flash back, the flashbacks brief and staying well within in the scene.

Two large themes emerge from this story, one of which is culture clash, first introduced with the inset of a “Private Property” sign on front cover: superficial judgments and attempted protection of ego-identifiers come at Chris and Caitlin in the form of their friends’ objections to their dating. On a modern note, Caitlin struggles with not having health insurance and can’t pay her bills from the “world-renowned” medical center.

With the third act we begin to see a larger issue: trauma and violence treatment. This theme is inserted into the story with a light touch as the story builds and by the time Chris has his breakthrough we realize the signs were there all along.

The ending is not lengthy and is plausible but left me a bit unsatisfied. With the external challenges of different lifestyles and the need for further internal adjustments (couples therapy, perhaps?), the ending invites a sequel.

The much larger challenge for this novel is the lack of a professional edit. Equal attention must be paid to the craft of writing as to the creation of an involving plot and modern themes worthy of discussion.

To recap, plot and character development are great, themes are pertinent to modern times, descriptive details are often entertaining, dialogue is fine, setting and pacing are well done, the various POVs are handled nicely, and the narrative voice is consistent. If these were the only things that mattered, and since I appreciate the subtle nods to Dr. Kildare, I’d give The Keeper 4 stars. But the writing has major craft problems and I can only give it 3 stars. Even with the satisfactory larger elements, the manuscript must have a professional edit so the read becomes smoother and the story flows unobstructed.

With its relevant modern themes, this novel has potential. And don’t forget, the Dr. Kildare comic strip by Ken Bald ran for 21 years.