"In the tradition of Southern fiction, Blumenstein's tale unfolds in a world by terms weird, hilarious, and horrifying; yet disturbingly like our own. His characters are vividly idiosyncratic and vividly portrayed; bitingly satirical and rich in irony.."
Dr. John D. Lawson, Robert Morris University, author of Generations
"A rough and rowdy work, full of twists and turns; Snapping the String grabs you with its vivid imagery and true-to-life characters from the 'git-go'."
Ames Arnold, freelance author
Snapping the String is the second book of The Ascension Trilogy. In this tale, Peyton Costello languishes away in a secure forensic unit of a mental institution accused of murdering his parents. While incarcerated, his consciousness is splintered. He tethers himself to the faint hope that one day he will be exonerated from this horrific crime. Peyton must pull himself back into reality, or the thinly stretched string will snap, and he'll be lost forever.
Robert Paul Blumenstein once commented: "I've traveled halfway around the world, yet never have I traveled so far as into the depths of the mind." During the 1970's, he worked with Virginia's deinstitutionalization program freeing inmates from a regional mental hospital. "This [Snapping the String] speaks to the souls abandoned inside the hospital wards who yearned for nothing more than freedom." This profound experience served as an inspiration for Snapping the String set against the backdrop of his hometown Richmond, Virginia.