✍🏻  Chris Whitaker

☑️ Literary Fiction

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 | 4.5

“𝙄 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙙𝙙𝙨.”

In short, this book was EPIC.

Overview:

•Genre Blend: Drama, Mystery, Thriller

•Set in Small Town Missouri

•Multiple Decades

•Character-Driven

I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book quite like this one, which is a marker of an excellent read.

I favor character-driven stories, and this one delivers on multiple intricate characters with depth and growth. Human connection is the heart of this story. The family ties and friendships explored through this story were honest and meaningful. 

Here’s a non-spoilery line for each main person (trying something new with this): 

Joseph “Patch” Macauley

“𝘼𝙩 𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙧𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙥𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙤𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙩 𝙖 𝙛𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚. 𝘼𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙚 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙗𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙗𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙.”

Saint Brown

“𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙢. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙗𝙮 𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨.”

Misty Meyer

“𝙈𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩.”

Grace

“𝙒𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙬𝙚 𝙗𝙚 𝙤𝙠𝙖𝙮?” 

“𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙪𝙨.”

Whitaker crafted a story with so many characters and plot lines that spans decades, and I was continually enthralled, partially due to his unique writing style. 

His prose is poignant and evocative, but not effusive. The book is broken into multiple sections and very short chapters, which continually propelled the story forwards. 

Something about his word choice and dialogue just really grabbed me. Examples: 

“𝘿𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙧?” 𝙎𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙚𝙙, 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙙. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙞𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙙. (Cauterized!! Loved that.)

“𝙏𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙪𝙨.”

“𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣.” 

“𝙉𝙤. 𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣.”

I also loved the exploration and dialogue about faith and religion. It brought so many colors and perspectives on a continually complex theme. 

“𝙂𝙤𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙥𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙩.”

Downsides: I found a few aspects a little unbelievable, and I wasn’t as emotionally attached as expected. 

However, the strengths of this story (some I didn’t even mention due to spoilers) vastly outweigh those points, and I immediately added the author’s other works to my TBR. 

Overall, I highly recommend this book.

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