Most of us would like to believe we’d recognize the moment our lives were about to change forever.
We imagine dramatic crossroads: a life-or-death decision, an unexpected diagnosis, a winning lottery ticket, or an opportunity too good to refuse. Fiction often trains us to expect these turning points, complete with flashing warning signs that tell us something important is about to happen.
Real life rarely works that way.
More often, the choices that reshape our lives arrive quietly. A friend asks for help. Someone calls in a favor. We agree because it seems harmless, because we don’t want to disappoint someone we care about, or because we’re convinced this one exception won’t make much difference. Looking back, the moment seems obvious. Living through it, it almost never does.
Perhaps that’s why stories about ordinary people continue to resonate so deeply. They remind us that character is rarely revealed during life’s easiest moments. It emerges when loyalty collides with responsibility, when old habits challenge new convictions, and when doing the right thing becomes far more complicated than simply knowing what the right thing is.
Alexander Brito explores that tension with remarkable honesty in Creatures of Habit.
Yovanni Guerra has worked hard to build a life he can be proud of. He is a devoted husband, a loving father, and an elementary school teacher who has left behind the mistakes of his younger years. But the past has a way of lingering just beyond the edges of the present. When an old friend asks for what seems like a simple favor, Yovanni finds himself pulled toward a life he believed he had escaped forever.
What follows is not simply a crime novel or a story about suspense. It is an examination of conscience. Brito understands that the most compelling conflicts are often internal. Every decision Yovanni makes forces him to weigh friendship against family, loyalty against integrity, and the person he once was against the person he wants to be.
What makes Creatures of Habit especially engaging is that it refuses easy answers. Its characters are neither heroes nor villains. They are recognizably human, carrying regrets, hopes, weaknesses, and good intentions that sometimes lead them in exactly the wrong direction. Readers may not agree with every choice they make, but they will understand how those choices came to be.
The best novels don’t simply ask what happens next. They ask what we might do if faced with the same circumstances.
That is the quiet power of Creatures of HabitIt reminds us that the line between redemption and regret is often far thinner than we’d like to believe, and that the choices defining our lives are not always the dramatic ones. Sometimes they begin with a single favor that seems impossible to refuse.
If you enjoy emotionally rich, character-driven fiction that combines moral complexity with compelling suspense, Creatures of Habit is a novel well worth discovering.
The Day Before – April 24, 2016
The church was an archaic structure wedged between the modern high rises of Miami and the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean. Colored glass depicting Jesus Christ on the windows decorated the interior of the nave. The nave led down to the gold arches where the altar stood. On the gold arches were portraits of saints and apostles alongside the Lord and Savior. The church had the appearance of a modest thirteenth-century church, back when Catholicism and faith reigned supreme throughout Europe.
At the third row was Yovanni, looking at his son rise to a standing position once again. They were dressed identically in grey slacks and a long, white buttoned-up sleeve. He enjoyed watching his son: his hands clasped tightly together, sitting, kneeling, and standing for Mass with the concentration he had—praying intently. Yovanni had disliked going to church and everything that came with it when he was younger, but it appeared that his son, Andy, did not mind it as much. He appreciated that fact. It gave him hope.
They proceeded down the row and up the nave of the church, patiently waiting step by step to receive the Bread of Life and the blood of Christ from the priest. Nicole grabbed a hold of her husband’s arm and smiled at him. She was dressed all in white, wearing a veil that was recently bought for this occasion. Attendance at this church was a first for the Guerra family, and photos at the scenic location were planned to follow the service—content intended for social media, publicly displaying their renewed faith, a sentiment that had taken root over the past year.
Nicole glanced at Yovanni, held him tighter, and whispered, “Not so rough around the edges anymore.”
Yovanni smiled. In the past, this comment would have irked him; however, throughout the years, a certain wisdom had found him, one that knew certain arguments were not worthy—a slight maturing from yesteryear.
They walked down the aisle and received the Bread of Life from the priest. Yovanni stared at the crucifix, his head held high, and made the sign of the cross before consuming the bread and drinking the sacramental wine. He returned to his pew and knelt beside his family, praying silently—for their health, for the well-being of his extended family, and for protection and forgiveness for the sin he was planning to commit the following night.
Mass proceeded until the priest passed their row. Yovanni led his family outside, behind the church and near the ocean, anticipating exactly where his wife would want to take pictures. Once again, he would’ve hated this act in years past. Not for the vanity of it all but his own slothfulness—a delaying of a schedule that kept him away from where he most wanted to be, the comfort of his home. Instead, he gladly took pictures, finding all the angles and locations his wife might want. Then, he found someone to capture them all together—a family, framed in sunlight.
Once his wife was satisfied, they proceeded to their car. Yovanni played The Jungle Book soundtrack at his son’s request and drove away. He weaved through the traffic that was always synonymous with Downtown Miami. They merged onto the highway before his phone suddenly began to vibrate. He turned on his blinker and switched to the far-left lane, the toll road, as he reached into his pocket and answered his phone. It was his friend Fernando calling.
“Hello?”
“Hey man, can we link up tonight? There’s a slight change of plans. My—”
Yovanni turned to his wife and gave her a wink before subtly interrupting, “Manny, what’s up, man? Yeah, I have to check my schedule before committing to anything, but I’ll let you know sooner rather than later.”
“Nikki’s right next to you?”
“Cool, cool, yeah, everything is good with the family. We actually just left church, so I’ll give you a call when I get home if anything.”
“Dale, give me a call later. It’s urgent.”
~Excerpt from Creatures of Habit by Alexander Brito~