Some of the greatest writers in history have used the written word as a balm for real-life pain, using fiction, poetry, or non-fiction as a way of looking back and finding meaning in their personal experiences.

For author David K. Bartoo, his new memoir, “Her Lying Eyes,” becomes a vehicle for self-examination, a journey through his own painful experiences – not only to memorialize the emotional drama he experienced, but also to perhaps find in words what real life denied him: a reason why.

In describing his book, Bartoo recalls his growing up and his love of fiction – especially science fiction.
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“I always wanted to write stories like Stephen King. I always thought my first book would be a horror novel.” – David K. Bartoo
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“Ever since I was a kid growing up in Trinidad, I was imaginative and creative,” he wrote. “I wanted to write horror and science fiction stories. I was inspired by the stories I heard growing up from the elderly people in the village. It was local folklore. TV was not the main source of entertainment like it is today. In the evenings, the grandparents, moms, dads, and children would gather around. The old folks would talk about their encounters with the supernatural, even stories that were handed down from their fathers and grandfathers. So I always thought my first book would be about horror stories that I heard growing up. Life does not always go according to your plans. This book, however, is about my real horror story.”

Driven to seek a better life in the United States after a downturn in the economy in his own country, Bartoo’s book details some the hopes and aspirations he had in coming to America, the struggles he had in obtaining them, and later, the sad turn of events that let the dream slip away. Many of the locations are familiar to local readers, such as sites in Jersey City and even in Bayonne, where his memories take long steps in this personal epic.

A resident of Bayonne for about three years, Bartoo sets his book in contemporary Hudson County – in particular in Jersey City. Yet, he tried to emulate some of the storytelling techniques he heard growing up.

“I always wanted to write stories like Stephen King,” he said during a recent interview. “I always thought my first book would be a horror novel.”

In this tale of heart break, Bartoo recounts his efforts to achieve the American Dream, and (as with many great, tragic tales) recounts the unraveling of that dream.

“The book took me about a year and half to write,” he said. “I really wanted to get this story out. Sometimes, I couldn’t even sleep at night.”

Bartoo said it was a story that needed to be told, and he could not stop until it was out of him. Like many great books of literature, “Her Lying Eyes” attempts to serve as a tale of warning for those who rush into love blindly.

Published by Xlibris, one of the better self-publishing houses, the book is available on line as well as locally at Unique Books on Broadway at a cost of $25 for hardcover and $15 for soft cover.

Although this book might have exploded out of him in an intense urgency, the book did not stop him from continuing his original plans.

“I’m working on my next book now,” he said.

This time, he is writing a book of fiction, a collection of horror short stories.

With this kind of drive, he might just get to be the next Stephen King after all.