3 out of 4 stars
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Rarely do authors make their characters flawed and somehow distasteful, but William H. Coles has no problem in doing so. McDowell is a novel about family, betrayal, self-growth, and love. It is an extraordinary story of different lives interwoven together by a single person.
Hiram McDowell is a renowned surgeon who has no regard for others except his children from his two failed marriages. From adultery to murder, he has done almost everything against the law. For years, he has been doing these things freely… until karma decided to turn things around. Little by little, his wrongdoings are starting to have consequences. The people he betrayed before are speaking up, and they will not stop until he gets what he deserves. Will he be able to get back up and protect his unstained reputation? Will he be able to survive a life without fortune and privilege? McDowell will soon learn that the heavens may have taken a long time, but they surely never forget.
First of all, the summary above doesn’t justify the whole story. The other characters in McDowell's life had their own story to tell, however briefly. The book's pacing bordered on fast and slow. The author knew when to take time discussing a specific event and when to skip the unnecessary details, making the book not tedious to read. The first part talked about McDowell's life before his conviction, and the second part was about his life after. One thing I liked was the element of surprise. Coles knew when and how to insert a plot twist, which is praiseworthy.
Moreover, Coles is known for his remarkable characters, and this one is no exception. As mentioned above, the supporting characters have their own story of struggle and pain. Most of the time, readers tend to forget the other personas in the book, especially when only mentioned once or twice. However, Coles has well-written characters that can surely make an impression to the reader. There were no clear protagonist or antagonist while I was reading the book, which makes it one of a kind. You will hate McDowell as if he was the villain in his own story and you will cheer for his enemies to take him down.
Unfortunately, I found a handful of editing errors. Most of them were grammatical errors like using "you're" instead of "your", and having a double past-tense in a sentence. The lack of commas was also noted.
McDowell is a masterpiece. I was amazed at how my emotions shifted throughout the story for one character. I think that was one of the prominent elements I liked in this book. Honestly, I couldn't name a single thing that I disliked while reading it. The plot and characters were all well-written. I would have given a perfect rating if not for the multiple errors I found in the book. Thus, I give this 3 out of 4 stars rating.
I think this book would appeal to people who are interested in character-driven books and a gradually increasing plot. However, I would not recommend this to people who like action-driven writing styles and hate the slow movement of a plot; they might find this book boring. Most of the context deals with death, psychological traumas, and depression, which I think is unsuitable for young people. They were also some explicit scenes involved.
The lessons in life and things about human nature are also noteworthy. With that said, I leave you one of my favorite lines in the book:
"You think you're a good person and you want to know why bad things happen to good people. But that's not in the book. It's in the living"
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McDowell
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