Review Detail

I recently purchased this book because my local bookstore was having an amazing sale on summer reads and this one has a stellar blurb from Stephen King. I should've paid attention to the fact that the blurb was for the author's entire body of work and not just this one book.

Not that this is a bad book by any stretch. But it falls short of being great. Here's what I loved about the book: the narrator and the careful attention to setting. The settings, both in Montana and in New England, are vivid and rich without being overly descriptive. Every scene in the story felt fully realized with sensory detail and enough scene blocking to let me see the story in my head.

I also loved the narrator's voice. He's not your typical jock. Or, maybe he is (He lives for football and struggles with grades) but he was so well developed that I *understood* why he lived for football (his only option out of a deadend life of poverty in a tiny town) and I *felt* his struggle to understand things he read. Seeing the story through this narrator's eyes made for a lovely journey.

Unfortunately, what didn't work for me as much was the plot itself. The set up to the mystery is perfect. But once we get to New England and the search itself, it begins to slow down. The suspense didn't feel consistent, the red herrings were obvious, and I felt let down by the ending. It felt rushed and pretty convenient.

Maybe I just wanted too much. I was expecting an edge of my seat thrill ride of suspense where every plot twist would leave me looking over my shoulder, afraid the bad guy would come after me next, and I didn't get that. However, this is a good book, and I did enjoy the read. Even though I didn't love it as much as I thought I might, I think readers just dipping their toes into the suspense waters might find this a fabulous story to cut their teeth on.