Passionate Oversights: A True Crime Story by Charles W Massie III is the story of a retired man who was looking for a new beginning, but in the end, he had to fight for his life and his sanity. Charlie is the quintessential retiree who is looking to bring back the excitement in his life. His needs are simple at this stage; he wants to live someplace warm, have an easy life and if he can find love, that would be amazing. So when he finds the woman of his dreams on Craig’s List, he cannot believe his eyes. Patricia is a successful businesswoman who has figured her life out and she seems to be excelling at it. They hit it off and soon Charlie believes that he has found the one person he is destined to love forever. But behind that beautiful face is a horrible woman who seems to have ulterior motives and Charlie can’t seem to find any fault in her. Will he see her for who she really is in time?

Passionate Oversights: A True Crime Story is a very entertaining tale about domestic abuse and sheds a different light on the theme. Charlie is a real trooper and he is the perfect protagonist for such a story. He is innocent and vulnerable, yet he is strong enough to understand what is happening to him and that he must take some action to save himself. Anyone would give in to a passionate relationship with a charismatic person and I think the author encompassed the feelings and emotions brilliantly. The pace was great, the dialogues were very revealing and the narrative was very smooth. I enjoyed how the author shares a true-crime tale with readers without glorifying anything or taking a side. Charles W Massie III lets readers make their own assumptions and have their own takeaways from it.

Passionate Oversights by Charles W Massie III is a crystalline exploration into the muddy depths of life when fate deals the wrong hand. The catalyst for this journey comes in the form of a listing on a dating site, where Charles Mason hoped to meet someone with the potential to become his future soulmate. Little did he know that Patriche Riley, who seemed to be his prime candidate, came with her own particular issues. Having relocated his life to Kentucky to be with Patriche, Charles will ultimately be confronted by these issues and sent into a vortex of despair and helplessness. How will Charles manage to stay afloat in these turbulent waters? You will be driven to join in and experience the agony of his time spent trying to right wrongs and to discover the life-altering result of his struggles.

Charles W Massie’s Passionate Oversights is a prime example of so many sayings about danger, but I think the one that fits best is when you jump for joy, beware that no one moves the ground from beneath your feet. Patriche is the paradox in this adventure, causing the leap to great heights and removing the ground from the landing. Her character is incredibly rich and real, showing a full spectrum of behaviors from loving to absolute evil incarnate. The interplay between Charles and Patriche was always very human; so much so that at times I could relate directly back to my own experiences both good and bad. I also felt empathy for Patriche in that she may also be a victim of another time in history, and her behavior now may be very much a product of this mistreatment. The really frightening thing about reading this book is knowing that there but for the grace of God, I could be.