4 out of 4 stars
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Review - Buried Threads by Kaylin McFarren
Rachel and Chase, the owners of a treasure hunting company have taken up an assignment in Japan. What initially seemed like a relatively simple mission turns complicated as more facts come to light – facts including the history behind the treasure, the shark infested waters and other obstacles they must face before they reach the treasure, the sour relationships between the people they interact with and more surprisingly, history involving them. The mission becomes an adventure of a lifetime when the monk who hired them, Shinzo, tells them that a natural disaster will strike Japan if the three swords that they are looking for are not found in time.
While Rachel is in love with Chase, she does not have complete confidence or faith in Chase and their relationship. After all, Chase did leave Rachel after her father passed away – a time when she needed him the most. In Buried Threads, we see how their relationship progresses and how they face the obstacles that come their way – both professionally and personally. Further, a new fact about Rachel’s father comes to light, disappointing Rachel further. Without giving away any spoilers, I can say that I was very excited to see how Rachel deals with this.
Kenji has been envious of Shinzo (the monk) for a long time. Kenji believes that Shinzo stole his father’s affections from him. As part of his revenge, he becomes the master of Mariko – A Geisha (Japanese female entertainer) who Shinzo had always liked. How Mariko reacts to this and the relationship between Kenki and Mariko, as well as Shinzo and Mariko were interesting to read. The plot turns more gripping since Chase approaches Kenji for some goods which will be needed to undertake the assignment for Shinzo.
This book kept me at the edge of my seat till the very end. I could connect with Rachel and wanted to read ‘just a little bit more’ every single time, to make sure that she was fine. This book has a good plot with realistic characters. It also has elements of romance and philosophy, which I liked reading.
There are many characters in the book and a majority of the story is told from Rachel, Chase, Mariko and Kenji’s perspectives. The author developed the main characters well, and showed how each character had shades of gray. While most characters (and the relationships between them) were important to the plot, there were times when I struggled to remember them and had to re-read the previous chapters. While this interrupted my flow of reading and I would have liked the book better if it had fewer characters, I cannot think of a single character that could have been removed, without affecting the plot.
Further, I admire the way the author connected all the characters and the sub-plots together. This would have been a difficult book to write, but the author did it beautifully. In particular, I liked the smooth transition between the sub-plots and the different perspectives. The book is easy to follow and has a good pace. I did not come across any major grammatical or formatting errors. Overall, I think that the book is well written and edited.
The book is set in Japan and through the events described, the reader can learn a lot about the traditions, beliefs and lifestyle in Japan. I found it interesting to read about the clothing, festivities and in particular, the concept of ‘Geisha’ – traditional Japanese female entertainers. Since I like learning about different cultures, this was one of the things I loved about the book.
One concern that I had with the book is that there were a few minor contradictions. For example, Rachel tells Chase that she had been feeling sick for the past two days. A paragraph later, she tells him that “It’s probably just the food from this morning”. However, these contradictions were few and minor.
Overall, I rate the book 4 out of 4 stars. It has a good plot with realistic and well developed characters. I think that the author has written the book beautifully and I wanted to finish reading it in one sitting. The book has some mature content. I would recommend it to any adult who is a fan of Suspense and Mystery books.
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Buried Threads
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