Okay so while I had trouble in the beginning of the novel I
found it interesting anyway. The author makes use of typical American TV cultural memes to keep the pot boiling. It makes for an
entertaining read.
What gave me trouble in the beginning was that it required a
great deal effort to accept the novel’s basic premise — that hero-protagonist Scott
Boroughs swam to shore from a plane crash about ten miles out from Martha’s vineyard
with a four-year-old on his back.
Hawley goes a long way and does much research in order to convince you as to how the Great Swim occurred. (Hint: It has to do with a once well-known body-builder/health-nut character named Jack LaLanne.) That was a tale in and of itself,
I had already made the leap because what’s wrong with
bypassing a device or two if awork is entertaining and you feel like reading? .
Jacket blurb has it right that this is a character driven
novel. Character is one of the novel’s
strengths, not only with reference to hero Scott, but with several of the other
characters like the flight attendant, the crash investigators, the pilot, the
co-pilot. . .
I liked what I learned of private airlines and the way they
operate. This was well researched, I
thought. Once I got over the hurdle
that the MC would swim all that way, I began to enjoy the plot development.
There was a certain consonance in events which gave the rest of it a strong
sense of reality.
While the story gets bogged down and fat in the middle as
many novels do, the author generally keeps the action flowing at a high
level. This is one of the writer’s earlier
novels. I’d pick up another one if it so
happens.
