Review: Beyond the Rainbow by James S. Bergquist

James S. Bergquist delivers a devastating novel of tragedy, deceit, and resilience with Beyond the Rainbow, a heartbreaking tale of perseverance.

After discovering a terrible secret about his troubled ex-partner and young daughter, Ethan does his best to move forward in the relationship and mend some very dangerous wounds. However, he also wields the dark secret like a weapon, or at least a looming threat, and consequently has his life ripped away by a cruel lie. Following the dramatic, stage-setting opening chapters is an in-depth peek at the criminal justice system, as well as the circuitous, time-intensive nature of the judiciary, in which innocence is not, in fact, presumed.

From what readers are told and shown, Ethan is a good father, a hard worker, and an unfortunate victim that falls through the cracks of justice. While Ethan is far from perfect, there is an immediate sympathy for him as a protagonist because his innocence is made clear from the start, written directly into the story. As years in prison pass, and the full picture of Ethan’s past and present comes into focus, his future comes into focus as well, as does his chance at redemption, and a return to some semblance of a normal life. Still, the chances for a happy ending are slim, given the heartless nature of his captors, the broken system holding him, and the mental anguish false imprisonment can cause.

Readers are given an intense view into the faults of the criminal justice system, and what life in prison can look and feel like, from the perspective of an innocent man. As the narrator describes, “Prison was a psychological puzzle that Ethan could never solve…. It was an environment totally inimical to being human.” Many of the insights from behind bars are dark and foreboding, ironically shining a much-needed light of discomfort on prison conditions in America. These sections of the book may be the most shocking, with some of the most memorable takeaways. Even so, there are also a number of broad generalizations made about incarceration, which feels as though it’s written at a distance, rather than from firsthand experience, even if it is inspired by a true story.

Bouncing between a courtroom drama, a prison thriller, and the narrative backstory of this discomfiting tale, the book weaves itself from multiple directions at once. At times, the ordering feels off, in the sense that certain background details would help inform the case proceedings, or a temporal jump feels jarring. The pacing is also inconsistent, with some chapters and critical events feeling rushed, while other more detailed courtroom scenes drag with excess detail.

That said, the structure generally maintains the suspense and benefits the overall storytelling, and the dialogue throughout the novel is riveting and authentic. What shines most is the emotional vulnerability displayed by the author. To explore so many intense subjects, from such a rare vantage point, makes Beyond the Rainbow a powerful read for anyone, regardless of one’s politics or personal history.