Review of Thin Places
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Matt Graves
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Review of Thin Places
[Following is a volunteer review of "Thin Places" by Diane Owens Prettyman.]
Thin Places by Diane Owens Prettyman is a novel that vacillates between feeling like a suspense-thriller, a romance, and a classic Walt Disney picture. The author is able to convincingly alternate telling the story from two points of view: The two main characters are an ex-convict/former heroin addict named Finn and a boat captain named Chloe. Finn knew Chloe's father, Calvery, before he was executed for a murder Finn suspects he did not commit. Most of the story is narrated by Finn as he goes from mopping prison floors, to getting to know Chloe, to realizing he has not left the dark, gritty, mysterious sides of life behind him after all.
This book uses an unusual and interesting approach to the shift in viewpoints: The chapters from Finn's point of view are narrated in the first person, and the chapters from Chloe's point of view are written in the third person. At first I found this disagreeable and awkward, but it grew on me as the story progressed. By the end of the novel, I thought it worked very well.
Thin Places also strikes a singular balance by managing to have a laid-back vibe overall, while making the reader feel genuine suspense when the action picks up. And there is every bit as much action in this story as one would expect from the foreshadowing of the opening chapter. There is not a character who comes out of it with his (or her) hands clean. And that is a theme in the book, expressed bluntly by the condemned man Calvery as, "We're all bastards, but God loves us anyway." Overall the characters in this book do indeed turn out to be lovable. With each chapter, the gap between the lifestyle of the ex-con Finn and the boat captain Chloe grows more and more narrow. One of the story's strong points is that it does justice to the complexity of human relationships.
On the other side of that coin, there are times when the story becomes a little too sappy. From time to time, some of the religious and philosophical subtext comes across as too heavy-handed. And so do some of the intimate, tender moments between characters. Oddly enough, I think what would have solved that problem was a little more writing. The author needed more space to set the scene for these special moments that had potential for high impact. What would have made this book better would have been about another 50 or 100 pages.
Because this book is a real page-turner. And I give it four out of five stars. It drew me in and made me care about the characters about as well as the last Dean Koontz novel I checked out of the library. At times, this book aims to be more than a thriller in that vein, to make a meaningful statement about the value of love and the deep mystery of life. And it sometimes succeeds in doing that. Other times, it feels rushed, and like it is trying too hard to cater to readers with short attention spans. In the end, it felt one draft short of being a great novel. Even so, I consider it a good novel, and recommend it to people who enjoy tales of mystery and suspense, true love stories (rather than trashy-romance hack-jobs), and stories that touch the full spectrum of the human heart.
******
Thin Places
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Thin Places by Diane Owens Prettyman is a novel that vacillates between feeling like a suspense-thriller, a romance, and a classic Walt Disney picture. The author is able to convincingly alternate telling the story from two points of view: The two main characters are an ex-convict/former heroin addict named Finn and a boat captain named Chloe. Finn knew Chloe's father, Calvery, before he was executed for a murder Finn suspects he did not commit. Most of the story is narrated by Finn as he goes from mopping prison floors, to getting to know Chloe, to realizing he has not left the dark, gritty, mysterious sides of life behind him after all.
This book uses an unusual and interesting approach to the shift in viewpoints: The chapters from Finn's point of view are narrated in the first person, and the chapters from Chloe's point of view are written in the third person. At first I found this disagreeable and awkward, but it grew on me as the story progressed. By the end of the novel, I thought it worked very well.
Thin Places also strikes a singular balance by managing to have a laid-back vibe overall, while making the reader feel genuine suspense when the action picks up. And there is every bit as much action in this story as one would expect from the foreshadowing of the opening chapter. There is not a character who comes out of it with his (or her) hands clean. And that is a theme in the book, expressed bluntly by the condemned man Calvery as, "We're all bastards, but God loves us anyway." Overall the characters in this book do indeed turn out to be lovable. With each chapter, the gap between the lifestyle of the ex-con Finn and the boat captain Chloe grows more and more narrow. One of the story's strong points is that it does justice to the complexity of human relationships.
On the other side of that coin, there are times when the story becomes a little too sappy. From time to time, some of the religious and philosophical subtext comes across as too heavy-handed. And so do some of the intimate, tender moments between characters. Oddly enough, I think what would have solved that problem was a little more writing. The author needed more space to set the scene for these special moments that had potential for high impact. What would have made this book better would have been about another 50 or 100 pages.
Because this book is a real page-turner. And I give it four out of five stars. It drew me in and made me care about the characters about as well as the last Dean Koontz novel I checked out of the library. At times, this book aims to be more than a thriller in that vein, to make a meaningful statement about the value of love and the deep mystery of life. And it sometimes succeeds in doing that. Other times, it feels rushed, and like it is trying too hard to cater to readers with short attention spans. In the end, it felt one draft short of being a great novel. Even so, I consider it a good novel, and recommend it to people who enjoy tales of mystery and suspense, true love stories (rather than trashy-romance hack-jobs), and stories that touch the full spectrum of the human heart.
******
Thin Places
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The Reverend Psychopath by Dr Andrew Rynne
