RANTS AND RAMBLES

• • DISCLAIMER: When I review books, weaknesses and inconsistencies tend to dominate my discussion; therefore, I will emphasize that any particular rant (and, yes, they can be long-winded) does not have special bearing on my unified opinion of the book. Foe this, please refer to my overall star rating. Additionally, this review is my personal opinion, intended to help like-minded readers navigate the plethora of available options. Use it as a tool but do not assign undue importance to it (i.e. feel free to disagree with me).
  • Christianity is a main theme of the book, and this might be a turnoff for some people. It is also possible if you take exception to Frank’s brand of Christianity that you may not like the book. I personally found his handling of the topic to be pretty fair. Many denominations are represented and while they all have their problems, they still try to work together. Even the main character’s denomination, though possibly Frank’s pick for the most correct, is shown to be flawed. This story boasts a particularly nuanced look at Christian faith and the difference and relationship between it and the humans who practice it. Though there is probably some bias in the book, no denominations were painted as the bad guys, except for the cult leader who definitely deserved it.
  • One indulgent nitpick of the book is that the writing can get a bit wonky at times. An example of this is when a character gets startled. To get the reader to feel this, the sentence is in all capital letters as if it is supposed to shock you with an accompanying adrenaline spike. The problem is this is the only instance of this type of writing in the book. If you never see all caps except for here, as soon as the page turns, unless trickery is done to make sure this sentence is the first on an even-numbered page of every single copy of the book ever sold, you can see as soon as the page turns that something is in all caps. This will draw many people’s eyes to read it prematurely which is horrible because the “jump scare” is now ruined. At the very least, you can see something impactful is coming. The lesson here is that jump scares don’t work in books the way they do in movies. It’s a nitpick but a few instances where Frank tried to do something different with writing pop up throughout the book and not all of them work.
  • Mild Spoilers: The romantic relationship in the novel doesn’t work well for an interesting reason. The relationship itself is fine, but it did not begin until halfway through the book. Frank was wise enough not to push the issue of romance or to cram ill-conceived development down his readers’ throats, so the characters in question are friends by the end of the novel with a possibility of developing into something more. Had it remained this way, I would have been content; however, an epilogue has them getting married one year later. This could feasibly happen, and the timeline is reasonable, but what rubs me the wrong way is that all the romantic development takes place off-page. If the setup for this marriage reveal is a 1-year-long, unwritten novel, why are we hearing about it? This is the definition of payoff without buildup, and it feels cheap and unimpactful. In real-life, the growth and development of children we haven’t seen in years seems almost unbelievable because we did not see it happen, and this with something we know to be real. The issue is exacerbated with fictional characters. This is not a big enough problem to ruin the novel, but it is certainly an annoyance.
  • Mild Spoiler: The way information is fed out over the course of the book is very important, particularly in a mystery such as this. Frank does a great job of managing when and how much information is provided. The timing keeps the reader interested while the amount ensures that the world makes sense. The characters must deduce, track down, and generally earn the information which is a good decision since characters simply stumbling onto answers usually feels lame and cheap.
  • Spoilers: The main character is done really well. His disillusioned, crotchety, and disgruntled attitude contrasts his replacement who is optimistic and gung-ho. The main character has reasons for his outlook, and though these reasons are not immediately apparent, they allow his attitude to be handled in a very realistic and relatable manner. Additionally, this allows the story to explore something not often discussed in Christian fiction, how life and circumstances can change a person (the main character also began as optimistic and gung-ho). This change can be either good (reshaping) or bad (being beaten down). This character’s change is neither fully good nor fully bad. Life beat him into a crotchety, curmudgeonly man but it also crafted him into a well-rounded individual with valuable experience to bring to the table. The main character is also contrasted sharply with the antagonist, being two sides of the same coin, showing how circumstances and choices could send similar people down a path of good or of evil. This one character contrasted to two others provides an intriguing look at the broad spectrum and nuance of humanity. The main character is developed competently by flashbacks. Now I am not usually a fan of flashbacks as they often grind the action of a book to a halt and impede proper pacing, but in this case, they work well. Because the pace is already slow and because the flashbacks feed out information relevant to the main character’s outlook on life and the overall mystery of the book, they feel connected to the action rather than like a break in it. They also stretch the run time of the modern-day story while distracting the reader with new information, making the plot feel faster than it otherwise would but also dragging out the book to allow dread and terror to build.