Review of THE BOOK OF SECOND CHANCES by Katherine Slee (New Release)

2.5 Stars

When Catriona Robinson, a beloved children’s author, dies, she leaves her granddaughter Emily grieving.  Raised by her grandmother after the death of her parents in an accident which left her physically scarred, Emily has become a virtual recluse.  Since she illustrated her grandmother’s books, Catriona’s death leaves Emily feeling she has no further purpose.  Then Emily discovers that she has ten days to follow a trail of clues if she wants to inherit her grandmother’s estate in its entirety.  Reluctantly, Emily sets off with Tyler, a childhood friend whom Catriona designated as Emily’s companion, on a journey that takes them to London and on to France and Italy. 

A problem for me was that I could not connect with Emily.  She is 28 years old but is so immature.  She suffered great tragedy when her parents died but that was 15 years earlier.  Catriona let her granddaughter remain a 13-year-old?  Emily is so self-centred and whiny that she just becomes tedious and annoying. 

As expected, the journey she undertakes is a journey of self-discovery.  The issue is that the reader is given no credit for intelligence:  the author states the obvious over and over again.  There are explanations like “Every single interaction, no matter how small, has an impact on who you turn out to be.  Every conversation, every disappointment, every touch, they all combine into one huge mess called life” and “it’s not possible to appreciate the good without the bad.  The light without the dark.  The joy without the sorrow” and “Face your fears.  Don’t give in to the voices of doubt.  Embrace the terror because you never know where it might lead you” and “no one ever really knows what goes on inside a person’s mind, or their heart, that each and every one of us have [sic] demons to battle with at some point along the way.”  A well-written novel does not need to state its themes; it will show, not tell.

There are problems with Catriona’s posthumous scavenger hunt.  There is no way that she could have foreseen that Emily would walk down a street in Paris and see a particular art shop!  People seem to carry parcels around with them just on the chance that Emily will show up?  For instance, Emily meets one man as he docks his boat; he immediately takes her for a boat ride to a hotel restaurant where he presents her with a “brown paper parcel tied up with string”!

There are other events that are illogical.  A woman says to Emily, “Let me show you what it is I asked you here for’” and then begins “to search through stacks of books, then clambered onto one of the desks and moved aside dusty cardboard boxes from a top shelf” in order to find it?  This same woman had hotel reservations made for Emily and Tyler though she didn’t know they would be in Paris on that day?  Tyler seems to have things happen to him even though there is no time for those things to happen.  The contents of Catriona’s will are only revealed four weeks after her death?  Tyler’s dad is called William and then Charles?  Why did Tyler and Adrianna disappear as soon as tragedy struck?  Emily hasn’t seen Tyler since her 21^st birthday 7 years ago?  Does Catriona have no flaws?

There is little to keep a reader’s interest in the book.  It is so slow-paced and plodding.  I kept wanting to abandon it but felt obligated to finish since I had received a galley.  Truly, I feel as if I gave The Book of Second Chances more chances than it deserved.

Note:  I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley.