Review by takundwa12_3 -- Waves Break (on Unknown Shores)
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takundwa12_3
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Review by takundwa12_3 -- Waves Break (on Unknown Shores)
[Following is a volunteer review of "Waves Break (on Unknown Shores)" by Barry Litherland.]
The Waves Break (on unknown shores) is a standalone novel by Barry Litherland. It is a story that is narrated by Philip who is the protagonist, and an amateur sleuth who gets to the bottom of a house break-in and a cold case murder.
The story follows two timelines. The first is when Phil, Wayne and Steve are childhood friends. Wayne comes from a troubled household and his older brother Tyrone bullies him and abuses him at home. The second timeline is when Phil and Wayne are older and at this point, Phil works for a local newspaper while Wayne is working in a factory and is dating their childhood friend Tina. We find out that Steve has since passed away and Tyrone went to jail but was recently released.
The crime in the story takes place at Tina's parents' house when an unknown assailant breaks into the house and empties the safe. The assailant also attacks Thomas Oldfield, Tina's father injuring him such that he is fighting for his life in Intensive care. The first suspect in the case is Wayne who had no alibi and was identified by an eyewitness who claimed that Wayne was seen running from the Oldfield house around the time that the crime was committed. It is now up to Phil to use his investigative skills as a journalist to find out who was responsible for the break-in so he can exonerate his friend Wayne, whom he believes he is innocent.
The novel is well written and the plot is interesting. The characters are fleshed out and I enjoy the narration of the protagonist. His language is rich and full of imagery. I especially enjoyed the way he used similes to describe situations which I thought added humour and made the narration personal. The pace of the novel is fast and the scenes are arranged makes it an easy read and a page-turner. The timelines add depth to the story and by the end of the book, all loose ends come together to create a story that is multi-dimensional as the reader witnesses the transformation of the main characters Phil and Wayne.
I am giving this novel a rating of 4 out of 4 stars and the reason why I give it four stars is that I feel that it was professionally edited. I think the book is easy to read and it would probably appeal to fans of mystery crime thrillers. The author creates suspense throughout the book and he uses the protagonist effectively as an amateur sleuth who exposes the story till finally at the end of the book the mystery is solved and ties all the different strings of the story together.
What I did not like about the book was that the murder storyline was not very powerful and it felt like it was a fringe side story. I would have also like to have the character of Tina's father to be more fleshed out because he was a major part of the crime but he too is a fringe character who did not get much airtime. I say this because he was a suspect in the murder case and it would have built more tension if he was less in the shadows and we got to meet him.
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Waves Break (on Unknown Shores)
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The Waves Break (on unknown shores) is a standalone novel by Barry Litherland. It is a story that is narrated by Philip who is the protagonist, and an amateur sleuth who gets to the bottom of a house break-in and a cold case murder.
The story follows two timelines. The first is when Phil, Wayne and Steve are childhood friends. Wayne comes from a troubled household and his older brother Tyrone bullies him and abuses him at home. The second timeline is when Phil and Wayne are older and at this point, Phil works for a local newspaper while Wayne is working in a factory and is dating their childhood friend Tina. We find out that Steve has since passed away and Tyrone went to jail but was recently released.
The crime in the story takes place at Tina's parents' house when an unknown assailant breaks into the house and empties the safe. The assailant also attacks Thomas Oldfield, Tina's father injuring him such that he is fighting for his life in Intensive care. The first suspect in the case is Wayne who had no alibi and was identified by an eyewitness who claimed that Wayne was seen running from the Oldfield house around the time that the crime was committed. It is now up to Phil to use his investigative skills as a journalist to find out who was responsible for the break-in so he can exonerate his friend Wayne, whom he believes he is innocent.
The novel is well written and the plot is interesting. The characters are fleshed out and I enjoy the narration of the protagonist. His language is rich and full of imagery. I especially enjoyed the way he used similes to describe situations which I thought added humour and made the narration personal. The pace of the novel is fast and the scenes are arranged makes it an easy read and a page-turner. The timelines add depth to the story and by the end of the book, all loose ends come together to create a story that is multi-dimensional as the reader witnesses the transformation of the main characters Phil and Wayne.
I am giving this novel a rating of 4 out of 4 stars and the reason why I give it four stars is that I feel that it was professionally edited. I think the book is easy to read and it would probably appeal to fans of mystery crime thrillers. The author creates suspense throughout the book and he uses the protagonist effectively as an amateur sleuth who exposes the story till finally at the end of the book the mystery is solved and ties all the different strings of the story together.
What I did not like about the book was that the murder storyline was not very powerful and it felt like it was a fringe side story. I would have also like to have the character of Tina's father to be more fleshed out because he was a major part of the crime but he too is a fringe character who did not get much airtime. I say this because he was a suspect in the murder case and it would have built more tension if he was less in the shadows and we got to meet him.
******
Waves Break (on Unknown Shores)
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The McCoys Before The Feud by Thomas McCoy
