4 Stars Out Of 5
“I am a prisoner in a nuthouse with a complete nutjob.”
“We are all a mess. And no amount of money, and no amount of drugs, changes that. When you’re broken, life is about finding the beauty in the mess. And then holding on for dear life. And there’s no shame in that. Provided we’re honest about it.”
“Love is what makes us who we are. Hope is how we express us. Hope is love with legs.”
This was in many ways a different kind of Charles Martin book. Although it had some of his usual trademarks (mysterious male protagonist, broken heroine, beautiful writing), it edged more towards thriller than his usual emotional literary fiction. I think it was a good genre for him but it didn’t have the emotional payoff that his other books had - it was definitely more The Mountain Between Us than Long Way Gone or When Crickets Cry. But after his masterpiece trilogy of The Water Keeper series, it is no surprise that he may continue to ratchet up the thrills from now on.
Having just read his older book Unwritten, I felt there were some similarities in his characters of Katie Quinn and Maybe Joe Sue. Pockets, on the other hand, was a very interesting character and had a different feel from a lot of his main characters, part of which was that he was a secondary character to Maybe Joe Sue. I still feel like there was more to explore with the character.
What kept this from being a 5 star for me was that I pretty much guessed all the big twists and reveals throughout. Charles Martin always does a great job of withholding information until it’s completely necessary in order to keep the reader intrigued and give a nice payoff. So this one had those moments at the beginning but then it all seemed pretty obvious how it all was going to play out. The good news is even if you guess it, it still made for an interesting story. As I read the ARC of this book, I do hope they go in before final print where are multiple pages of dialogue between Joe and her captor and put in more “Joe said” in various spots because there were times I would get lost on who was talking (formats on ARC’s often make it even more confusing).
All in all, a good book and worth reading. Just not as good as some of his masterpieces he has done.
* I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
