A vibrant drama about the stresses of illness, addiction and a business teetering on the edge of collapse.
Strong characters involve the reader from the start. Pauline a privileged CEO, a fan of running, delegating her duties and with mixed thoughts on having chosen not to have children. Her husband, also in his 50s, a Scottish immigrant, rough around the edges, stubborn with strong moral values and an addict son from a previous relationship, Also Johnny has a looming illness of the brain.
The other characters are also very unique, Johnnys ex wife and others in Scotland, workers at the factory and some choice people from Jacksonville really made the reader feel like looking in on a small community. Chemal, the rocker was probably the best character, on the autism spectrum and so full of life, reminded me of a friend, I would have liked to have seen more of Johnny and Chemals escapades, these opposing characters worked really well together.
The Sections based in Scotland came across really well, the language did lose a bit of the authenticity. But I liked the HUET training bit, the fear factor of simulated capsizing helicopters was exaggerated though.
Many tribulations were covered, parenting, addiction, illness. These came across well, but may have been too problems to solve within the word count, addiction could have been fleshed out more. The ending was too quick, in the act of trying to tie up all of the lose ends in the final chapters, the enjoyment was lost. Also I found it hard to believe, it was like shooting the werewolf with a magic bullet. A necessary confrontation was sidestepped and the authenticity of the plot suffered. This could have been a great book, I almost marked it 3/5 based on the ending.
A good read.
Strong characters involve the reader from the start. Pauline a privileged CEO, a fan of running, delegating her duties and with mixed thoughts on having chosen not to have children. Her husband, also in his 50s, a Scottish immigrant, rough around the edges, stubborn with strong moral values and an addict son from a previous relationship, Also Johnny has a looming illness of the brain.
The other characters are also very unique, Johnnys ex wife and others in Scotland, workers at the factory and some choice people from Jacksonville really made the reader feel like looking in on a small community. Chemal, the rocker was probably the best character, on the autism spectrum and so full of life, reminded me of a friend, I would have liked to have seen more of Johnny and Chemals escapades, these opposing characters worked really well together.
The Sections based in Scotland came across really well, the language did lose a bit of the authenticity. But I liked the HUET training bit, the fear factor of simulated capsizing helicopters was exaggerated though.
Many tribulations were covered, parenting, addiction, illness. These came across well, but may have been too problems to solve within the word count, addiction could have been fleshed out more. The ending was too quick, in the act of trying to tie up all of the lose ends in the final chapters, the enjoyment was lost. Also I found it hard to believe, it was like shooting the werewolf with a magic bullet. A necessary confrontation was sidestepped and the authenticity of the plot suffered. This could have been a great book, I almost marked it 3/5 based on the ending.
A good read.