This book blew me away — spoiler for the final rating — and I wasn’t sure it would. While some of the chapters follow what would be considered a standard format, there are many chapters that are short, short to the point of being a page or two long. At first this break from the norm worried me, and I feared that I would find it choppy and disjointed. Silly me. I tore through this book so fast that I hardly noticed a difference in traditional formatting and, if anything, the chapter presentation lends itself to the book’s pacing overall.
As a reader, you catch the town of Monta Clare, Missouri at a bad time. Not because it’s 1975 and the town has seen more prosperous times, but because there was an attempted kidnapping of the daughter of one of the town’s wealthiest families, and an unlikely hero — our hero — Patch, is taken instead. Diligently searched for by his childhood best friend, Saint, Patch is eventually returned to Monta Clare, but he and the town will never be the same.
Whitaker is a gifted story builder and weaver. I loved the characters he created and felt myself deeply invested in their lives, their loves, and their hurt. I thought it was a masterclass in storytelling as much as it was a gripping journey for the reader. I was second-guessing myself constantly throughout, and the only disappointment I experienced at the end was that there were no more pages to read.
It’s tough subject matter at times, but I felt the almost-600 pages were well worth it. In fact, I read the book a few months before having gotten the chance to write this review, and I already want to read it again.
2% Rating: 9/10
Recommend? Absolutely
Re-Read? Definitely
Time: 1:41