3 out of 4 stars
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In The Millionaire’s Cross by Sal Nudo, a coincidental meeting changes the lives of three men and one family forever. Brothers Alex and Trevor and Trevor’s boyfriend, Chad, are driving past an isolated cemetery when their car breaks down. Unfortunately, none of them have a cell phone with them to call for help. Luckily, a man named David is there vising his son’s grave and has a phone for them to use. Afterwards, he offers them each fifty dollars to mail a letter for him, which they agree to do. He then asks them to return in a couple of days to do something else for him. Although they are confused and uneasy about David, they agree to meet with him again to find out what his next favor is. At their second meeting, what David asks them to do is more sinister than they expected. Then he offers them five million dollars to do it. Will they accept the money and go through with it?
This was a very interesting and thought provoking story, as it made me think about what I would do in similar circumstances. The plot had many twists and turns, from events that happen the characters to the choices they make, that surprised me and kept me engaged with the story as I wanted to find out what would happen next.
In general, the writing was good. My favorite moments were the meetings with David. The writing conveyed a chilling atmosphere that went well with the cemetery setting and the characters’ interactions. This chilling mood in the group’s first meeting worked great to draw me into the story.
The book’s plot is very character driven as it focuses on the characters and the choices they make and their relationships with each other. Most of the characters were related, so there was a big focus on events that had happened years earlier and their affect on the family, as well as their interactions and feelings about each other.
The only negative thing about the book for me was how parts of Alex’s character were written. Despite him being the narrator and the story being from his point of view, there are choices he makes where there is not much insight into why he made that choice. Then in the second half of the book, there were things that happened where I expected him to at least think that what he did before was pointless, but he didn’t even think about it, which does speak to his character, but it still bugged me that what he did wasn’t even referenced. Then at the end of the book, it’s mentioned that he has nightmares and feels guilty about those things, but it’s never shown at any other point in the book.
This book seems to have been professionally edited. I only found 8 mistakes, and they were all minor ones that did not have any impact on the story. The two worst ones were an unnecessary apostrophe and an unnecessary quote.
Taking into account my issues with the writing of Alex’s character, I have decided to give this book 3 out of 4 stars. Overall, I did like this book and recommend it to anyone that enjoys character driven plots. Those that prefer books with a lot of action should skip this one. There is some disturbing content and a few sexual scenes, so I would not recommend this book to readers under eighteen.
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The Millionaire's Cross
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