Six stars
First and foremost, a large thank you to BookSirens and Fredrick Soukup for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.
New to the world of Fredrick Soukup, I gladly accepted this ARC. Soukup pens a story about a young man who is trying to make sense of his life after spending years in a foster home. A mystery, left to percolate for years, resurfaces and Dorian is must put all the pieces back together. Soukup develops the story from here, through four parts and using the perspectives of many different characters. In the end, it is a mix of narrative meandering and superficial character depictions, with which I could not connect as I would have liked.
Dorian spends much of his life as a young man trying to put together the past that haunted him. A foster child living in Minnesota’s Northwoods, Dorian was let to wander aimlessly when his foster mother was found hanging in her home. The police initially ruled it a suicide and he was forced to carve out his own future, much to his dismay.
When Dorian discovers one of his fellow foster brothers after years apart, Heath has a lot to share. He knows more about what happened to their foster mother, Miss Bonnie, and how the police spun a story that differed from the truth. With Dorian seeking answers, he must sift through all that happened in the months leading up to the death of Miss Bonnie and the chaos that had befallen many around him, including Heath.
Armed with the determination to get answers, Dorian tries to make sense of everything, while pushing back many of the horrible memories that wander to the front of his brain. The truth is out there and someone will have to be held accountable for Miss Bonnie’s death, but only if the lies are diluted. Soukup has a lot with which to work in this piece, keeping readers wondering.
I hold out high hopes for books, especially when I have no context of the author or a significant number of reviews to help shape my opinions. Fredrick Soukup delivers what could be a strong novel, at least based on the dust jacket summary and some of the blurbs left on various review sites. What might have been a strong novel turned out to lack the gripping nature I would have hoped, While the narrative appears to flow well, it did not grab me or make me want to plunge deeper. I was forced to skim and try to extract something about which I could care, but my expedition proved fruitless. Soukup can write, there is no doubt there, but he did not hook me with the narrative or even the characters. There was so much potential here and it was lost in the shuffle of something on which I cannot place a finger. I struggled from the outset, but was able to power through the novel quickly.
Plot development was there, at least on some level. Soukup offers up some surprise in the narrative and pawns off various issues for his characters to handle, but I was not gripped by the revelations, nor did I find myself eager to learn more. This novel did not work for me. Maybe I a a one-off or perhaps this is a warning for others. I will leave it to readers to formulate their own opinions.
Kudos, Mr. Soukup, for a hearty effort.
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