It’s August and I’ve just gotten back from a few days at Black Rock Mountain State Park in Georgia. This is one of the most beautiful parks in Georgia, with some lovely campsites and a few cabins so you can take your pick of how rustic you want to be. If you don’t want to spend the night, they also have some great hiking trails and a few picnic tables so you can spend the day, relaxing and enjoying the peaceful outdoors.
Part of my routine for this trip is always to take a book or two for reading in the cabin during the evening or on the porch in the early morning as I watch the fog roll over the valley below. Add a cup of coffee, maybe a biscotti if I have one, and it’s just about perfect. This year I had the opportunity to take an advanced copy of Little Comfort by Edwin Hill with me to read and review. All I can say is, wow, what a great read.
The book comes out August 28th and if you like a well written, complex mystery with unique characters, you’re going to want to get a copy of this book. Contact your local bookseller and get them to order you a copy, pre-order an electronic copy, ask your library to buy it and put yourself on the reserve list, do whatever you do to make sure you get a chance to read this book. If you are like me, there are some books you enjoy re-reading from time to time because they are so well written. This book is in that category for me. Here’s the review I wrote when I first finished the book:
*****
A huge thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing me with an advanced digital copy of Little Comfort by Edwin Hill, one of the best books I’ve read all year. As the book opens, you settle in, thinking the mystery and its solution is going to take place through the actions of a heroine who is an expert at using internet and other searches to resolve problems for her clients. The first characters you meet are drawn with just enough detail for you to get a glimpse of who they are, with hints about depths to come. Throughout the book, these characters continue to take more and more shape aa added details compliment those characteristics you’ve already drawn in your head.
Early on, the book morphs into the first of several shifts hinting that the entire story may be something quite different from what you were expecting. These metamorphoses continue throughout the book, adding to the storyline or to the characters, often in unpredictable ways. The result is you are continually drawn further into the book with an increasing reluctance to put it down, even for a short break. When you do put it down, you find yourself thinking about what you’ve read or wondering where the story is going to take you next, looking forward to your return.
To say this is much more than a simple missing person puzzle, or perhaps a simple murder mystery is an understatement. In the interest of letting future readers have the pleasure of experiencing the story as it unfolds, I am choosing not to give much information regarding the plot or its resolution. Suffice it to say the book is well written in every way with characters who are fully formed throughout the book and who continue to grow much in the same way your knowledge of the people you meet continues to grow as you spend more time with them and they reveal more of themselves than they did in an initial introduction.
The book is part psychological suspense, part heart-pounding action, part exploration of the human psyche and all of it a compelling read. Throughout the tale, the reader is made privy to different individuals experiences and how each person’s response to those experiences shapes them into the person they are at present. The theory that no one is all bad or all good is well represented by the book’s characters, although perhaps not in equal percentages. This makes for a more interesting approach to the ending of the book as the reader can approach the finale with at least a measure of doubt as to it’s resolution.
One piece of advice, start this book when you have some time to devote to the reading, It may well be one you don’t want to put down, and as such you may find yourself reading well into the night even when you have to get up to go to work the next morning.
*****
My opinion hasn’t changed since I first read the book. It remains one of the best books I’ve read this year. Let me know what you think after you read it. Until next time, Happy Reading.
