Clear Blue Silence: A Novel

Clear Blue Silence is the sober yet realistic story of Jonathan Klein, a California college professor, single father of two, devout Jew, and discoverer of unexpected news. Taking place during COVID-19 in 2020, Klein is balancing his semester with myriad happenings and information thrown at him from all sides, all while maintaining the COVID-19 regulations to keep himself and those around him safe.

Klein’s struggles include a previous student finding trouble with the Chinese government, a colleague struggling with legal issues related to a sexual harassment claim resulting in mental health struggles, a father-figure gifting him a cat that comes with extra strings attached, a missing child, and a former flame re-entering his life—each event bringing additional questions and answers that argued to be necessary.

Clear Blue Silence includes themes of melancholy with dialogue reminiscent of back-and-forth bantering from Gilmore Girls or similar fast-paced shows. The events in the story are serious and scary, yet the author’s choice of a subdued overlay allows for powerful events to lessen the emotional impact on the reader. After finishing and examining the story, based on the extent of events and happenings throughout, this reader expected to need some pause time to process; everything was spread out and touched on in bits and pieces rather than overloading the reader with emotion and information.

The reader will find political and societal comments bent toward the left-side views regarding Trump and vaccinations, with others about China and its role in the COVID-19 pandemic made throughout. Havis includes Jewish and religious references, given the main character is a practicing Jew. Seemingly prevalent in the author’s interests based on some of his previously published titles are cult movie references, with the main character being a professor of film.

Despite my lack of time to devour the story in one sitting, I enjoyed the anticipation as I eagerly waited to find the next set of precious minutes to continue following Dr. Klein through his struggles, made exciting and nerve-wracking by their realistic nature. The number of issues that arise cover many bases for potential problems, including some lesser heard ones. From beginning to end, the story never strays from its unique voice.

While this reader would never choose to travel back to 2020, remembering history is crucial for society and cultures to move forward positively and productively. Readers will learn the clear heroes and villains of the story and base their opinions on these.