Fiction / Romance
279 pages / 1705 KB
4 Stars
This is not the "usual" McQuinn book. The books
I've read by him have been space operas and adventures. They've had their share
of adrenaline. This book is gentle, and touches on a difficult subject, PTSD.
While it doesn't get into the clinical aspects of PTSD, it does show what
someone living with it goes through; how it affects them and those around them.
I think this book is a marvelous book for anyone who is either living with
PTSD, or knows and loves someone who is.
The primary protagonist, Crow, suffers from PTSD. He's a war
vet who has seen more than any human needs to see of death. Fortunately, we
don't have to relive a lot of what he does. Crow—a loner, and his dog Major,
come to a small town in the Washington Cascades, not too far from Seattle.
Here, Crow meets people who help him face his demons to get them off his back.
Dare I make a generalization here? Dare I say Crow is like
many men who have PTSD in that he knows he's broke, but he'll fix it himself?
He doesn't need help. He's a Marine.
There is no "ah-ha" moment when Crow realizes he
needs others; there is no "ah-ha" moment when he is suddenly
"fixed." We travel with him as he comes to the realization he really
does not want to be a loner any more, he wants companionship, and he wants
friends to stand by him and help him.
The chapters of this book are written in the point of view
of whoever is narrating that chapter. Most are written by either Lila, who has
her own demons or by Crow. Some people find this type of writing irritating, I
for one love it.
I would have liked to know just a little more about how
Crow's wife died, and a little more about Joe, their son. Crow spent a lot of
time thinking about them, to have their stories not tied up in a neat ribbon at
the end. (Yes, I like happily ever after in my fiction.)
