The ending was so, completely lame.

I listened to this one and it's the kind of book that I think I would have liked better if I had read it myself. I might have given it 3 stars.

This novel reads like a movie. Early in the book, this is because of the vivid descriptions - both of characters and of place. Later in the book, it is because it takes on the increased and adrenaline-laced pace of an action-packed thriller. The last chapters rely on readers suspending disbelief in ways that likely work in film, but (for me) didn't here.

There are some beautiful and insightful descriptions here. Early on, describing Loo being teased mercilessly: ". . . feeling the cause must be some personal defect, some missing part of herself that the others recognized, a rotting, empty hole that whistled when she walked, no matter how quiet she tried to be." But other times, such as when explicitly stating the theme of the novel and explaining how it is reflected in many characters, Tinti doesn't seem to trust readers to pay attention, to get it, to think.

I can't quite reconcile the title of the novel with the novel itself. Presumably, the title is a nod at the expression of cats having nine lives and the twelve bullets Samuel has taken are his twelve lives. This doesn't quite slide into focus as while some of the shots are extremely serious and threaten Samuel's life, others are relatively minor injuries and shouldn't really count as a life. A minor, but lingering, distraction from the book itself.

Samuel Hawley is a thief who happened to fall in love with a beautiful young woman in a diner. The novel tells the story of their life together, mostly on the run, and what comes after with the pain of loss. The bulk of the story is set in Olympus, MA where Hawley tries to "go straight" working as a fisherman. It happens to be Lily's hometown. The real star of the story is Loo, their daughter. She depends on Hawley for shelter and safety and has lived in myriad locales, eight schools in eight years. She loves the house Hawley chooses in Olympus. Living in a house is a new thing for her. Loo can't believe how big it is and wonders how they will fill it since the bulk of their belongings are Hawley's guns. It is in Olympus where Hawley teaches Loo how to shoot. She meets her grandmother and has more adventures as well as a pseudo normal existence. This child has lived a full life that most of us could never understand.

All in all love between father and daughter can be a wondrous thing. Hawley loves Loo and tries to keep her safe. Reading this new novel will give you the answers to the many questions you might have once you start.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Dial Press (March 28th 2017).

Great story of Father/Daughter relationship with protective, criminal, and grief background. Enjoy the back and forth of past to present with a main character who is dangerous and a little scary but I was constantly rooting for him. His daughter's coming-of-age drama pulled at me heart strings. Had a hard time putting the book down once I started.

This is a keeper, a literary tale of a father-daughter relationship. Samuel is a thief and the father of a young woman. Chapters weave back and forth between his past (revealing how he got various bullet wounds) and his life with his daughter. What happened to his wife? What does his daughter know of his background? Ultimately past and present meet up. It's a grabber of a story, beautifully plotted, nicely paced and character driven. How does the author know so much about guns and thieves? I'm going to have to get her first novel, The Good Thief.

I had been seeing this book mentioned everywhere before I was able to get my hands on it, and after reading it I can definitely see why there was so much hype around this book. The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley tells the story of father (the aforementioned Samuel Hawley) and his daughter (Loo) in chapters that alternate between the two family members. Samuel's chapters tell the story of his twelve bullet wounds while Loo's chapters tell of his discovering both who she is and who her father might be. It's a great study in what it means to be "good" and what it means to be "bad". Tinti does a great job of creating characters that blur those lines, and readers find themselves rooting for characters that exist beyond those boundaries.



Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this novel for an honest review.

Loved, loved, loved this book. Well done!

I really enjoyed this book, and would put it in my "Best of 2017" list. I liked a lot of the elements: the sense of adventure all the way through, the main character (actually Samuel Hawley's daughter) who is such a likable and strong protagonist, the "bullet" chapters describing each of Hawley's "lives," and just about everything. It would make a good book club read too, because I could see lots of different opinions coming out.

***DNF***
Don't be discouraged, the writing is very good and I will read more from this author. The reason I didn't finish is because I don't like Samuel Hawley as a character so I don't want to dedicate more time to finding out about the rest of his twelve lives. The three or four lives I've already read about seem to me to be a direct result of his actions and choices so it's not all that remarkable or interesting. I do enjoy the chapters with his daughter, she seems like a good kid despite how she's grown up moving around with Sam; but her chapters are fewer and farther between. Perhaps one day I'll get curious enough to go back to this and finish it just to see what happens with the daughter and what, if anything, finally takes Sam down, but right now is not that time.