I think I chose this novel because it had an interesting premise. I don’t recall how it is that I stumbled upon it; it certainly wasn’t on any big list that I was following. But either way, I placed a hold on it and waited patiently for a chance to read it. Well, now I have so here is my review:
Cal Henderson is a successful psychologist with his own practice and a busy group of clientele. But he harbors a terrible secret, one that has caused him to take on a new identity. When he was a young boy, his mother killed his father as well as his two brothers and severely wounded his best friend, Scottie Glass. The only way for Cal to recover from this was to move away from his past and ignore it forever. This all changes on the 25th anniversary of this event, when Cal gets a surprise visit from Scottie. Scottie is no longer a smiling, happy boy. Instead, he is edgy and paranoid, with a rooted belief that there was more to that traumatic event than was told to them. With some persuasion, Cal decides to help Scottie piece that day together – and find out who Cal’s mother really was. Was she really capable of killing those she loved? Or was there a more sinister plot at play?
This was quite a good book. It was such an intriguing concept that I found myself pushing through to see how the story unfolded. There were times when it got a bit … draggy but it was definitely worth it. One thing that I noticed is that the focus on the main character shifts. In the beginning, my attention was solely on Cal but soon it shifted to other characters. It was only then that I realized that I didn’t really KNOW the character of Cal; Cal was simply a narrator who took part in the events. That was a bit disappointing to me because I would have liked him to play a stronger role and be better at solving the mystery. But at the end of the day, everything was explained to a satisfactory level. As I mentioned before, this was a good novel. It didn’t blow my socks off but I would still give it a solid 3/5 stars (which, from me, is definitely a good thing). This novel is actually the first book in a series. I don’t know if I will stick around long enough to read the next book but if you decide you like this novel enough to do so, please let me know how it is!
Happy reading ~