Review of Thin Places

[Kelley Zdanowski]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Thin Places" by Diane Owens Prettyman.]

---

3 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Thin Places, Dorothy Owens Prettyman's novel, follows the storylines of Finn and Chloe. Finn bonds with an inmate on death row, Calvery, Chloe's father. Finn ends up serving his time as a porter for the death row area in prison. Finn makes a promise to Calvery to make sure his daughter knows he was innocent. Chloe is a no-nonsense, independent captain of her father’s boat. Struggling to make ends meet and make sense of her father’s sentence to be executed, she keeps everyone at a distance. While trying to convince everyone of Calvery's innocence including Chloe, Finn and Chloe go on a wild ride full of suspense, drama, and a little romance. Will Chloe learn the truth about her father? Can Finn adjust to life on the outside with everything changing around him? And what, where are thin places?

The combination of point of views really adds another level to the story. Prettyman does a great job writing in two different styles to match the two different personalities of Finn and Chloe. While Finn is more all over with his thoughts running on and on, Chloe is direct and concise.. As the characters go through their journey they both evolve through their actions, and the style of writing for their point of view evolves with them. The author switching between the points of view of Finn and Chloe make this growth more clear.

The area where the book could be improved in my opinion would be a more consistent way of continuing run on sentences. Dashes, commas and semicolons are all used for the same purpose throughout the book. These inconsistencies make the reading lose some of the flow. When a reader is absorbed in the next climatic point of the novel, the last thing they want to do is have to reread a sentence because of punctuation.

Even with the above issue and a few minor editing misses, the story is very captivating from the start and doesn't let up till the very end. The character development has you cheering for them and invested in the outcome. How do you find the thin places?

I would recommend Thin Places to suspense and mystery fiction lovers that like plot twists, romance, and a little faith all in one. Thin Places is appropriate for adults over 16 years old. I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars, losing one star to the above mentioned editing point.

******
Thin Places
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon