Ken Davis (2)

This book is difficult for me to review, because my impressions and feelings about it are quite mixed.I struggled with the presence of both First and Third Person views. On a purely personal level, I've never liked it. I think it should be one or the other. In this book, Mr. Davis doesn't do it badly but I struggle with the purpose because after reading it, I'm not sure that the Third Person views were necessary. However, I found something lacking in the First Person views and that makes it hard to say it should have been all that.To make a good book, you obviously need a good core story. Past that, you need imagery and empathy. Imagery is what builds your atmosphere and your setting. Empathy is the characterization that makes you like or dislike, but care about the characters in some way. The book was very good at the first, but lacked the second in a lot of parts. I believe some of the scarcity was meant to be style, showing emotinos through words and actions alone, with some thoughts, but it didn't quite work for me.Finn drew me in more towards the end, somewhere after the 100 page mark, but he still fell flat more often than not. In First Person, we should be granted a better look into the heart not just the mind. That didn't happen here. And Finn could often read a little false to me. He takes everything too in stride. Some people are like that in life, but with what he faced, there was never any real doubt or confusion. Like after Ieva tells him about Liam and what's going on.My best example is, without giving too much away, that despite the dramatic conclusion, I did not feel as much about one "big event" as I could have. As I should have, which was sad. Through out the story, I think I felt more empathy for the animals than the people.There also seemed to be a disconnect in points, where the motivation and continuity gets fuzzy. For example, the sudden "drop" between Finn's first conversation with Sister Ieva to his next scene with Maggie, and the disconnect between Tommy's murder and the robber/Niall confrontation: how they blame the one he fired and go after his family without even a mention of the fact that the one who was fired is dead. Or later there isn't much "felt" from Finn about the "big event" at the end.And yet! I say all that and I will still rate this story a four. If I was allowed half stars, I'd probably go with three and a half, but the story was engaging (though I am a sucker for a good Heaven and Hell tale), the narrative Voice did draw you in enough (even if not as much as I thought it should), and the atmosphere was set very strongly.Though it could have used another go-through with a copy editor. Still, I belive I will probably be looking into more of Mr. Davis' work.… (plus d'informations)