Review of THE LAST TRAIN TO KEY WEST by Chanel Cleeton

 3 Stars

This historical novel, set in the Florida Keys around the 1935 Labour Day Weekend, is light on history and heavy on romance and, to quote lyrics from a former student, “That don’t impress me much.”

The narrative alternates among the perspectives of three women.  Helen Berner is poor and pregnant and married to an abusive alcoholic.  Working as a waitress at a diner, she meets Mirta Perez Cordero, a Cuban woman travelling with her husband Anthony to a beach house for their honeymoon.  Helen also meets Elizabeth Preston who has fled New York to avoid marrying a gangster and is looking for a World War I veteran who last wrote to her from Key West.  As a hurricane makes landfall, the three women cross paths more than once. 

The historical elements are the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, the plan to connect the Keys via railroad using WWI veterans for labour, the deplorable treatment of those vets, the Cuban Revolution of 1933, and the impact of the Great Depression.  The discussion of these elements is rather superficial, though I was inspired to do some further research so that’s certainly a positive. 

I think we are supposed to think of the women as strong characters, but I was not convinced.  Each of them is a damsel in distress needing to be rescued by a handsome, rugged hero.  All are beholden to or threatened by “bad” men and redeemed or rescued by “good” men who swoop in immediately and take them into their arms.  Helen is married to Tom who is abusive; Elizabeth is engaged to a gangster because of her father’s choices; and Mirta is in a marriage arranged to help her family in Cuba.  Helen meets John, Elizabeth meets Sam, and Mirta gets to know Anthony.  The women seem to need a man to complete their lives, and fortunately all are able to immediately charm the men they meet.  I have difficulty with the love-at-first-sight trope, and it’s used twice here. 

The reader must be willing to suspend disbelief too often.  The three plotlines connect in very convenient and improbable ways.  Then the bad guys are disposed of in contrived ways which I would classify as examples of deus ex machina.  Everyone’s problems are nicely resolved so there’s a feel-good ending. 

There is suspense because of the danger of the deadly storm threatening the Keys, but it’s not difficult to predict that, though people will die, none of the important characters will. 

The short chapters move the narrative at a good pace so this is a quick read – perfect for a summer holiday.  It entertains and doesn’t demand much of the reader.  It is just not the type of book I prefer. 

Review of BLACK HEARTS by Doug Johnstone

 3.5 Stars

I decided to pay another visit to the Skelf women (Dorothy, Jenny, and Hannah) to learn the latest about the goings -on in their Edinburgh funeral directing /private investigating business. 

As in the previous three books in the series, the women are involved in several cases.  Dorothy helps an old man who believes the spirit of his dead wife is abusing him and a young man who believes his missing father faked his death.  Hannah is being stalked by Laura Abbott, a strange young woman who causes friction between Hannah and Indy.  And Jenny must deal with Violet and Stella, her ex-husband’s mother and sister, both of whom are having difficulty coming to terms with Craig’s death.

Each chapter is from the point of view of one of the Skelf women.  Jenny’s chapters were the ones I did not enjoy reading.  She spirals out of control, engaging in increasingly self-destructive behaviour.  I felt pity for her since she can never forget or escape from Craig, but I couldn’t help becoming impatient and annoyed with her.  She seems so selfish; even Dorothy tells her, “’You have to try to imagine what it’s like to be other people.’”  She acts like a teenager, not a woman in her forties. 

The title is very appropriate.  There is more than one seriously damaged person.  Unfortunately, they cause some situations which I found extreme and far-fetched.  Two individuals who are both damaged and dangerous are too extreme in their behaviour to be believable.  I was troubled by the implication that mental illness of a type that causes violent reactions is genetic. 

What also bothered me is that the characters do not behave in keeping with their traits which have been well established in the books.  Hannah, for instance, mishandles the Laura situation over and over again, on one occasion not even mentioning something that would have helped her relationship with her wife.  Considering her previous experiences, I believe she would be more wary and forceful.  Likewise, Jenny, even after witnessing a person’s violent and duplicitous actions, doesn’t suspect any ulterior motives?  These intelligent women seem to be much less so.

The novel examines how people respond to death and how they grieve:  “Grief came in infinite forms, there were as many different ways to mourn as there were people.  . . Some wailed and gnashed their teeth, others quietly sobbed, laughed nervously or openly, stood like statues, simmered like pressure cookers.”  The opening with its physical fight over an open grave foreshadows that unhealthy grieving will dominate the narrative.

Of course, there is a positive note in the closing image of “the three of them, their roots and branches intertwining with each other, supporting and nurturing, forever interlinked.” 

I enjoyed the book but not as much as the previous two.  The Skelf women are placed in extreme situations designed merely to build suspense at the expense of character consistency.

Review of OLD GOD'S TIME by Sebastian Barry

4.5 Stars 

Reading a Sebastian Barry novel is never disappointing.

This one is set in the mid-1990s on the Irish coast south of Dublin.  The protagonist is 66-year-old Tom Kettle, a retired police detective, living in a lean-to attached to a Victorian castle.  He has been retired for nine months when police officers appear on his doorstep to ask for help in a case concerning “’the fecking priests.’”  Charges of abuse against one priest have led to the re-opening of a cold case involving the murder of another priest.  This visit forces Tom to revisit the past, memories of which he has suppressed:  “What a thing to bring to your . . . door.  A new peril of cold cases that he had never foreseen.  Enough time goes by and it is as if old things never happened.  Things once fresh, immediate, terrible, receding away into old God’s time . . . He had been asked to reach back into memory, as if a person could truly do that.”

It is not long before the reader realizes that Tom is an unreliable narrator of his story, told in an accessible stream-of-conscious style.   He contradicts himself:  a painting has him thinking “of France and the French countryside, where he had never been” yet later we learn he had spent his honeymoon in France.  What happened on a mountain becomes important but “Could he every truly tell Jack Fleming what had happened on that mountain?  His embarrassment had partly been because he didn’t know, but must once have known, and might never know again.”  Just a few sentences later, Tom thinks, “He knew exactly what had happened, but he couldn’t tell Fleming any of it.” 

Grief-stricken, Tom’s mind veers into fantasy, a dream-world so lifelike that it’s difficult to separate his imaginings from reality.  He does see ghosts and unicorns, and it is obvious that some of what he experiences or remembers could not have actually happened.  Tom’s memories are unstable and the reader is left wondering which of his thoughts can be trusted.  The ending, in particular, will have the reader pondering what s/he has read. 

Tom is a character the reader cannot but love.  He is a kind, gentle man with a sense of humour.  He is willing to laugh at himself.  What also stands out is his love for his wife and his family.  His compassion and strong sense of justice cannot be ignored:  “To threaten a child, to bring hurt to a child, was the chief crime before God and man.  It must never go unpunished.”

Tom is also a damaged man.  He endured trauma as a child, in the army, and during his time as a policeman.  And then there are the personal losses he has experienced:  “Things happened to people, and some people were required to lift great weights that crushed you if you faltered just for a moment.  It was his job not to falter.  But every day he faltered.  Every day he was crushed, and rose again the following morn like a cartoon figure.  Road Runner, Bugs Bunny – crushed, yet recomposed.”  It becomes clear that he is also burdened by guilt and yearns to atone.  He wants his retirement “to be stationary, happy and useless” and that is what the reader wishes for him.

That peace does not seem possible when Tom has to once again face the covered-up crimes of the “empire of the Irish priesthood.”  The Catholic Church was aware of sexual abuse perpetrated by priests but did nothing.  Countless children suffered.  The novel portrays the generational impact of this abuse and shows people destroyed by it, entire families destroyed by it.  The lack of punishment adds to the trauma, though when justice seems to be delivered, it brings guilt, not peace; a weapon “in killing had not killed.  In exacting punishment had not punished.  In seeking to be the instrument of redemption had not redeemed.”

Amidst the novel’s grim subject matter and its sorrow, however, there is beauty:  the beauty of love and family and friendship.  Tom’s enduring love for his wife June is mentioned again and again; though he has been a widower for many years, he “cradled the memory of his wife as if she were still a living being.”  He knows “He had suffered like all human persons, but he had also been given immeasurable happiness.”  There is also the beauty of the Irish countryside which is described so vividly.

Anyone familiar with Barry’s writing will find more of his wonderful wordsmithing here.  The prose is lyrical, rich with wonderful metaphors and similes.  A meal of frankfurters and mash “lay in his belly like an early pregnancy”’ a necklace of red gems lies on a woman’s neck “like insects on the very point of dispersal”; staticky nylon bed sheets “were like an electric storm over Switzerland”; an abusive priest is a “filthy dark evil cold murderous vile creature with a penis for a soul”; and police reports Tom is reluctant to read “floated in his mind like squabs, flapping their wings, begging for attention.”

This book is moving and sometimes unbearably, heart-wrenchingly sad.  It is also amusing in parts and a wonderful tribute to enduring love and its ability to light up the darkness experienced during life’s difficulties.  I highly recommend it.

Review of THE DUTCH ORPHAN by Ellen Keith (New Release)

 2.5 Stars

This novel is set primarily in Amsterdam during World War II.  Two sisters find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict.  Johanna is a singer who has many Jewish acquaintances among her circle of musicians and performers.  She sets out to raise money to help protect the Jews whose lives and livelihoods are more and more constrained.  Her sister Liesbeth is married to Maurits, a Nazi sympathizer, and though she doesn’t always agree with his beliefs and behaviour, she doesn’t challenge him because “it wasn’t her role.”  The danger increases when a Jewish orphan requires protection.  Not trusting Liesbeth, Johanna keeps secrets from her sister, and gradually their once-close bond starts to unravel.  Will they be able to reconnect after the war ends?

I found it very difficult to connect with either sister.  Liesbeth is weak and shallow; though she has misgivings about the NSB, the Dutch Fascist Party, she becomes involved with a member of the movement.  She describes herself as having been selfish as a child, but her actions suggest that she still is.  She feels lonely so she betrays someone she loves?  She is also stupid, not seeing all the so-obvious clues about the truth behind a man’s job, house, and possessions.  Johanna also lacks intelligence.  She is on the lookout for an informer but even when she witnesses suspicious behaviour, she dismisses it as a coincidence.  Then, when she learns the identity of a bounty hunter, she decides to confront him directly.  When that doesn’t end well, she replays the events “examining every detail, trying to figure out where I’d gone wrong”?! 

There is a lack of tension at the beginning.  Then though there is more later, the reader knows that everything will work out in the end.  When one of the sisters finds herself in a dangerous position, it’s amazing how she manages to extricate herself.  She indicates she “’had a lot of luck’” and that’s an understatement.  A guard takes an interest in her for some vague reason, and a German officer finds her, “an unwashed stranger with a Dutch accent,” but doesn’t question her and, instead, offers her food and accommodation?    

There are elements that I found strange and/or annoying.  The title is an issue because the orphan does not appear until one-third through the book, and the story is more about the sisters than the child.  Every time Willem appears, it seems we are told that he pushes up his glasses “with his middle finger”!  The Germans are “hooked” on Pervitin, a methamphetamine, but it’s “perfectly safe”?  At one point Johanna states she is in charge of organizing the guest list for secret house concerts, but later it is mentioned that the host “composed the guest list” and “the concert hosts vetted the lists before Jakob and I saw them”?  Someone can see a film of a family outing to the beach and recognize the people as Jewish?  An anti-Semite would be knowledgeable about a Jewish High Holy Day and say, “’By Rosh Hashanah, the whole city will be Judenrein’”?  A woman knows nothing about sewing but “By the third shirt, I’d started to get the knack of it.  My hands coaxed the fabric through the machine with ease”? 

Some sections are vague.  Prisoners were allowed to get a change of clothes to bring with them and to stay in contact with their families?  The Germans confiscate bicycles and Johanna’s is taken by an Order Policeman by a canal one evening but she later has it when going to find Dirk? 

Characters are introduced and then disappear.  Nelly first appears three-quarters through the book and is mentioned ten times and then never again.  The fate of some fairly important characters is just mentioned in passing.  Is Marijke de Graaf the same woman as appears in the author’s previous novel The Dutch Wife? 

Having enjoyed The Dutch Wife, I hoped to like this novel as well.  Unfortunately, it is a disappointment.  The characters are not engaging and there are just too many holes and inconsistencies.  I read a digital galley so perhaps some of these problems have been addressed in the final copy.

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

Review of THE GOOD WOMEN OF SAFE HARBOUR by Bobbi French

 4 Stars

I came across this Canadian book on the longlist of the 2023 Dublin Literary Award.  Why have I not heard of it before?  It’s a great read.

Fifty-eight-year-old Frances Delaney has just received a terminal cancer diagnosis.  As she thinks back on her life, we learn about her childhood in a small Newfoundland fishing village.  A number of tragedies led to her leaving to St. John’s where she worked as a housekeeper.  With the help of Edie, the teenaged daughter of her last employer, Frances returns to Safe Harbour where she reconnects with Annie Malone, her childhood friend from whom she has been estranged for 40 years.

The characters feel so authentic.  This is certainly the case with Frances.  Her life has not turned out how she hoped:  “’I haven’t lived the life I wanted – I’ve lived the one that happened.’”   She had wanted to be a teacher but she became a housekeeper.  Cleaning had a calming effect on her:  “One by one, any worries I had fell away until my head felt emptied out.  Cleaning was like medicine for my troubled mind.”  I love her matter-of-fact attitude:  “’I’m going to die like everyone else on the planet.’”  She keeps a sense of humor, even naming her tumour The Squid.  She cares for others; for instance, she worries less about dying than she does about the effect her dying will have on Edie. 

An introvert with social anxiety, Frances led a solitary life:  “I even found a small measure of pride in being a sole survivor, a woman making it all on her own.”  But she realizes that the life she constructed for herself was “built on a foundation of faulty nerves, crippling shyness, and a battered heart that couldn’t withstand another break.  Walls built high and strong to keep everyone out.”  My heart wept for her at times when she desperately wanted to connect with someone.  And, of course, as a cleaner, she was often ignored:  “Moving through the world like a phantom, silent and invisible.”

The book touches on a number of serious topics:  mental illness, suicide, abortion, forced adoptions, cancer, and assisted dying.  It also criticizes the Catholic Church and the influence it had on society:  always “either up front and centre or lurking somewhere in the background, a priest, a nun, a hanging crucifix.  The reminders of the faith we’d once been ruled by.”  Frances feels that she and others “’were duped . . . Fooled by the guilt-mongers and the shame-brokers into believing that there was no other way [than that imposed by the church].’” 

The theme is connected to Frances’ observations about the church:  the importance of living a life of one’s own choosing.  She tells Edie, “But what I truly want for you is a life of your own choosing, one lived only on your own terms.  No questions asked.”  She was not able to live her dream life so she decides, “’I’ll bloody well be having the death I want.’” 

Despite many sad moments, the book is also joyful and life-affirming.  It emphasizes that one should look for the magic in ordinary experiences.  When Frances goes swimming in the ocean, she mentions, “I was overcome with the beauty of it all – the bracing cold, the shimmering sunlight, the rhythmic rocking to and fro as I lay on my back smiling at the sky.”

This book is both heart-breaking and heart-warming.  And that ending . . . absolutely perfect.

Review of SNOW ROAD STATION by Elizabeth Hay (New Release)

 4 Stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this latest novel from Elizabeth Hay.

Lulu Blake, 62, has been an actor her entire life.  Then in 2008, while starring in a Beckett play in Ottawa, she forgets her lines.  Ashamed and panicked, she flees to Snow Road Station, a tiny village in eastern Ontario, where she stays with her best friend Nan.  A family wedding and maple sugaring keep her occupied as she contemplates what she really wants to do with her life. 

I was immediately drawn to the novel when I saw its title.  Living in eastern Ontario, I know of the village.  Also, having grown up in the 1960s and 70s only 20 kilometres away from Killaloe, I smiled at the description of some of its homesteaders:   “draft dodgers . . . hippies from California who had made a new life for themselves in Canada.”  I’m yearning for a BeaverTail! 

After a crisis (snow), Snow Road Station gives Lulu a place to stop and rest (station) but also helps her move on (road).  The author best explains the importance of the title:  “The name is evocative, even poetic, with its three-part movement from snow to road to station—an arrival, a departure, a long wait—a place of rest, a stoppage, yet a road. That movement is mirrored in the novel, for not only did the name give me the book’s title, it gave me its three-part structure” (https://elizabethhay.com/snow-road-station/). 

Acting has been central to Lulu’s life, “her religion, filling the emptiness in her.”  Now, after forgetting her lines, she feels humiliated and unsure about how to proceed.  Should she continue her career or surrender her long-held dreams?  She asks herself, “What would it take? . . . Becoming who you’re meant to be, instead of turning into a major disappointment.”  She has to learn who she really is, to follow the advice of Nan’s son who says it’s important, “’to know who you are and not be pretending to be somebody else – not trying too hard.  Knowing who you are and being fine with that.’” 

Of course such self-awareness is not easy; Lulu actually compares the process to picking wild blackberries, “bare-armed combat with long brambles that rake your skin, as hard to go backwards as forwards once you’ve worked your way into the patch.”  Learning about what is most important and becoming our true selves is like taking maple sap and turning it into maple syrup, a process of refining forty litres to make one litre.  As described in the novel, it takes a lot of work.

As expected, Lulu does experience personal growth.  She realizes that she is like the village of Snow Road Station which has changed over the years, its “importance off to the side.”  It is now “a place that must have had bigger plans for itself in the beginning [but]now seemed happy in its modesty – a field flower.”  It is not important to justify or impress:  “All you have to do . . . is put yourself in the way of beauty, put yourself into the incredible swing of it” and be “part of an orchestration of movement that had no end.”

Perhaps the secret is “paying attention to all the life around her that wasn’t paying the least regard to her.”  Lulu discovers a world of peace and beauty which the author succeeds in describing so beautifully:  “Colours not seen all winter reappeared in the sky – shades of pink that floated high and loose like Easter hats, like flowers.  At dawn the snow was faint-pink as the sun rose, and the woods themselves were light-filled, yet full of long shadows and air in subtle motion. . . . Hemlock needles dusted the surface of the snow, as did beech leaves whitened by winter winds and only now letting go.  Even when overcast, the woods were bright.  It was like being inside an opal.”

The novel also examines relationships.  There is more than one difficult relationship; for instance, Lulu and Nan didn’t see each other for 25 years.  Because there is a lack of open communication, misunderstandings occur and connections suffer.  Based on a comment Nan made years earlier, Lulu thinks Nan judged her harshly but the truth is that she spoke out of hurt and jealousy.  All it takes to repair fractured relationships is an openness:  “It takes so little.  The smallest effort and barriers fall.”

There are so many reasons to like this book, though I was most drawn to its thematic depth and lyrical prose.  Also I can identify with an older protagonist coming to terms with aging.  I highly recommend it.

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

Review of CORONATION YEAR by Jennifer Robson (New Release)

 3 Stars

Since we are in a coronation year, this title will attract the attention of readers.  This book, however, focuses on 1953, the year of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.

It is not the queen but three residents of the 400-year-old Blue Lion Hotel that are central to the narrative.  Edie Howard, the owner of the hotel, is struggling to keep it financially viable.  The announcement that the coronation parade will pass directly in front of the hotel is a godsend.  Stella Donati gets a job as a photographer for a London magazine, and one of her tasks is taking photos at the coronation.  James Geddes is an artist who has been commissioned to do a painting of the procession. The lives of these three become entwined, especially when it seems someone is striving to tarnish the hotel’s reputation and even threatens to disrupt Coronation Day. 

I found the plot very predictable.  That certain characters will become romantically involved is obvious from their first meetings.  The villain is also easily identifiable.  The only surprise is the villain’s motivation and that, unfortunately, is far-fetched.  In fact, the action-packed resolution seems rather ridiculous and not in keeping with the tone of the rest of the book. 

I also take issue with the main characters.  All of them are so improbably perfect.  Edie, for instance, is totally selfless, exceedingly kind and thoughtful with everyone, even troublesome guests.  She is non-judgmental and empathetic towards everyone.  Stella and James also have only positive traits.  In the end, all emerge as heroes.  I understand that the author wanted to create likeable characters, but they are too good to be authentic.

There are elements that are described so as to seem important and then are never mentioned again.  Why, for example, is Dolly’s illness such a big deal?  Is it only to emphasize Edie’s care and compassion for her employees?  Edie notices that the cellar has been cleaned up by someone, but then that mystery is ignored?  What really happened with the reservation book?  The reader can only speculate. 

Then there are the unrealistic events.  The only explanation given for the professor’s presence in the cellar is that “he must have returned [to the hotel] in the wee hours”?  A man who has been “in and out of prison half a dozen times for all manner of offenses” can so successfully operate under his assumed identity?  How does Stella manage to get through a locked door? 

The book touches on some serious subjects.  Stella and James’ experiences during the war have left both with scars.  James because of his mixed heritage must also contend with racism.  But there are also touches of humour.  The portrayal of the eccentric Hons cannot but bring a smile.  I also liked the description of Canadian guests at the hotel:  “The Canadians were slightly more reserved [than the Americans], though still very nice, and keen that she not confuse them with the Americans.”

Knowing that Queen Elizabeth II reigned for 70 years, it is impossible not to consider the significance of  Edie’s thoughts about the young queen:  “Edie would wager [Elizabeth] was already sick to death of at least some of the duties she’d inherited.  Or maybe she wasn’t?  Perhaps she enjoyed it all?  Perhaps it truly gladdened the young queen’s heart to know the rest of her life would unfold in an endless succession of plaques to be unveiled, cornerstones to be revealed, ships to be named, trees to be planted, ribbons to be snipped . . . The queen was wealthy and admired and treated with deference, awe, and real affection wherever she went, but was it enough to outweigh her lack of freedom?” 

Royalists and lovers of historical fiction looking for a charming, quiet, escapist read will enjoy this book.  I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it, but my pleasure was certainly lessened by the too-perfect characters and predictable plot. 

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

Review of HOMECOMING by Kate Morton (New Release)

 3.5 Stars

This mystery/family drama has a dual timeline:  1959 and 2018.

In 1959, in a small town in South Australia, a man discovers Isabel Turner and three of her children dead.  The youngest, an infant, is missing.  In 2018, Jess Turner-Bridges leaves her home in London and returns to Sydney when she learns that her grandmother Nora, the woman who raised her since she was 10, is seriously ill in hospital.  In her grandmother’s home, Jess finds a book which reveals that her family is connected to the 1959 tragedy, some details of which have not been satisfactorily resolved.  Thus begins a journey that uncovers several family lies and secrets.

The pace is problematic.  At 560 pages, the book is fairly lengthy and begins very slowly.  The middle is bogged down with the inclusion of too many perspectives, including a book within a book, which result in unnecessary repetition.  Irrelevant backstories of minor characters are included.  Only in the latter part does the pace pick up.  Then the number of revelations piles up to the point of feeling excessive. 

Part of the mystery is predictable; I know many readers will guess a key element very early on.  There are, however, some plot twists.  The ending does explain behaviours and reactions which struck me as unusual or illogical when they were first mentioned.  It’s just unfortunate that the book takes so long to get to explaining so much of what happened. 

I did not like the over-reliance on serendipity, the occurrence of events by chance in a beneficial way.  The death of a solicitor, for instance, is certainly convenient.  It’s amazing how many things are found at the perfect time.  A gift lost in 1959 is found 30 years later “’just lying there’”?   Jess receives a parcel at just the right time and discovers hidden pages and a hidden letter just when their information is most needed.  I have difficulty believing that removing a few pages from a journal would eliminate all references to a life-altering relationship.  Yet the discovery of a burial 20 years later doesn’t raise questions in the person who deliberately did not bury what is discovered? 

The book certainly emphasizes the impact of secrets and lies.  At the end the reader is influenced to reflect on how lives and relationships would have been very different if secrets had not been kept and lies not told.  “The chief storyteller” in the family is responsible for so much:  destroying relationships and damaging people.  Jess’s conclusion that “it was impossible to feel angry” with this person responsible for “acidic family secrets” is simplistic.

Characters are well-developed.  What is interesting is that the reader’s opinion of several characters changes in the course of novel.  Characters often prove to be better or worse than first impressions suggest.  The one character whom I did not like is Jess.  For someone who is almost 40, she seems immature, willing to forgive one person but reluctant to forgive another.  Her behaviour while Nora is in the hospital (showing up late for visits) doesn’t jive with her supposed love for her grandmother.

As an avid reader, I loved the references to how a love of reading impacts the lives of several characters.  Relationships are formed and lives are changed because of a love of books and reading.  I can certainly identify with "the lightness of spirit and free-floating sense of possibility” felt in new books awaiting my attention. 

There is a good story here, but it could use some judicious revising and editing. 

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