Let me start off by apologizing to the author of this book. I received a copy of this to review a while ago haven't had a chance to read it until now. Once I finally started Reverb, I couldn't put it down.
James Wren is brilliant, beautiful, wealthy, and taken - with himself, or more precisely, his genius for creating music. But on the evening of his brother's funeral, his father turns James' life upside down. All that happens in the first fifteen pages.
James escapes from the prison his father put him in and goes on the run to find money and disappear forever. While on the run, he crashes into new and old friends who don't recognize this James - a James with suicidal scars on his arms, wakes up with nightmares, and doesn't trust anyone. Despite his friends' wishes, James retrieves large amounts of money and disappears to a small island outside of Athens, Greece.
And that's where he meets recently widowed Elisabeth and her young son Cameron. Their story isn't a happy and optimistic one, it's a real one about facing your fears, learning from your past, and building a new future. Up until he met Elisabeth I didn't like James but Elisabeth brought out an completely different side of him both to her and to me as the reader, and I really appreciated the way the author did that. By the end of the book, I really liked the three main characters (Elisabeth, James, and Cameron) and wanted to just keep following their story.
As much as I enjoyed this book, I have two warnings for readers out there. First, don't judge a book by its cover. The cover is disturbing and not the James I imagined in the book at all. If I saw the book in a bookstore or library, there's no chance I would pick it up based on the cover. And second, this book has A LOT of language and a few disturbing scenes (James was tortured, raped, etc.). If you don't handle either of those things well, I do not recommend this book to you. Other than those two things, this book was great. 4 stars.
Eek. Sounds a bit harsh. And then you throw in the serial killer on the cover... not sure about this one.
ReplyDelete@L.H. There's a reason I mentioned the cover in my review. This book is much better than the cover seems to indicate and while yes, it is disturbing at times the underlying themes of redemption, forgiveness, and figuratively coming back from the dead are great.
DeleteThe cover wasn't my idea. Publisher insisted. Had a big row about it, but, well, I lost. Cover I wanted is here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150289139848203&set=a.10150129201993203.330586.720963202&type=1&theater
@J, I definitely prefer that cover. The current cover gives it a somewhat disturbing feel, which is somewhat accurate but doesn't give a thorough view of the book.
Delete