Mac & Beth - hurly-burly

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: Mac & Beth

Thank you to Aaron D McClelland for providing me a copy for an honest review!

Banks cleans and processes the money brought in from Duncan's illegal drug deals. He also hears and sees everything that happens within the gang. He sees the difference as Bethany enters the trailer park, and begins to wrap Mac around her thumb. He watches as greed begins to infest members of the gang, and begins to doubt Mac's ambition. The violence and tragedy he will witness are worthy of a Shakespeare retelling.

Never before have I been unable to put down a story based on Shakespeare. Mac & Beth is the best retelling of Shakespeare I have ever read. All the key players were on the board from the original play but rebranded into gangsters and fortune-tellers living in a trailer park. Instead of sword fights and long winded soliloquies, it was brutal gun battles and drama fueled action scenes.

Aaron D. McClelland did an excellent job of humanizing the gang members. Seeing Banks in his day to day life builds empathy and compassion with the reader. And even though you know all the characters are peddling drugs and committing murder, you can't help but sympathize with them. Would you really blame Banks for killing someone to protect his family?

Modernized Shakespeare at its finest, Mac & Beth stays true to the overall plot and themes found in the original play. Readers looking for a tragic hero will certainly find one. And it will tear you apart to watch the downfall. Even knowing what was going to happen, I kept wishing for a different outcome. Aaron D. McClelland can retell any Shakespeare play and I will be sure to read it.