Coffey's
books have that haunting sense of magical realism, where the
spiritual intersects the natural. Such is the case with this one.
It
has been two years since the devastating storm hit Mattingly and
twelve year old Allie lost her mother, Mary, swept away by tornado winds. Allie has focused her thoughts on the plastic nativity
set in their yard and particularly on the figure of Mary. One
morning, after a gusty night, the Mary figure is gone. When Allie's
carnival prize wrist compass starts working again, Allie believes her
mother is calling her. She enlists the help of her friend Zach. Along
with Sam the dog, the three head into the dark woods, following the
compass, finding Mary.
What
follows is an adventure in the spiritual invading the natural as
Allie and Zach do battle with a dark beast and their own inner
selves.
While
the first two novels about Mattingly grabbed me, this one was harder
for me to read. I thought the opening scenes when Allie begins to
menstruate were just odd. I realize this is part of the “coming of
age” aspect of the novel but, as a woman, I just did not feel good
about this part of the novel.
An aspect of the novel I found limiting was the emphasis on two
characters. Allie and Zach are kids and there is only so much
character development that can be framed within the experiences the
two had. The setting of being in the wild limited the outer
influences upon them. Having them come across an old mountain man
could have added variety to their growth experiences.
And
that leads to another area. I felt the book was just too long and
repetitious. After a while I had to push myself to continue reading.
I got tired of yet another near death experience. I almost felt like
Coffey was aiming for quantity of words rather than quality. I did
not find many memorable sentences like I did in his previous books.
The
novel is an interesting representation of good and evil and would
generate good discussion. Does God use evil and disaster to direct us
to where He wants us to go? Why does God have sharp edges?
A good novel, just not his best.
Billy
Coffey has written four novels. Find out more at
http://www.billycoffey.com/.
Thomas
Nelson, 378 pages.
I
received a complimentary digital copy of this book from the publisher
for the purpose of an independent and honest review.
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