21 January 2015

Book Review: Descent by Tim Johnston

I don't read a lot of thrillers.  I used to, back when I was first a bookseller.  I loved the the adrenaline rush, but when I reached my thirties, something changed.  Now, instead of that excitement, what I experience is a much more dreadful feeling.  My overactive imagination keeps me from sleeping for days (or more precisely, nights), and I no longer look forward to those moments when my heart races in time with the plot.

I've also become a much pickier reader, especially now that I'm in my forties.  Where I once would have tolerated formulas and shabby writing for the sake of a plot, I don't have much patience for bad writing any more. I don't need beautiful writing every time out of the gate, not by any means.  But I do need writing that is serviceable, that carries the reader along without drawing attention to itself by how bad it is. In my experience, good writing and thrillers don't always, or even often, go hand in hand.

Reading Tim Johnston's new novel, Descent, was an act of great trust, and one bound by affection, too, when I got the request from Algonquin. I know I've said this before, but I love the folks at Algonquin.  You know the old joke about when being asked to jump, the correct response is, "How high?"  Well, when it comes to Algonquin and their requests for me to read something, my immediate response is "How soon?"

Thus it was that I curled myself up in bed one rainy afternoon back in...when was it? [Checks Goodreads] yes, August...with this book.  I read and read. I dragged myself from bed to shower, and then back to bed to read some more.  By the time I was 75 pages from the end, I'd grown a little stiff from reading in bed, so I moved to the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea. More the fool, I.

Learn from my mistake, peoples. Do NOT allow yourself to be interrupted during the last seventy-five pages of this book. My husband interrupted me not once, not twice, but three times.  By the third time, we had a Situation on our hands.

That's really just the mark of a good book, isn't it? A book that is so engrossing that you're actively contemplating homicide as an alternative to being interrupted?

Hmmm, by now you might be wondering what this book is about. That is an excellent thing to be wondering about. Let me tell you:

Caitlin is a young cross country star, and when she graduates from high school, her parents take her and her brother Sean on a trip to Colorado to celebrate.  One morning she sneaks out of the hotel room with Sean to go for a run, but she never comes back.  In the meantime, a Good Samaritan calls their parents because Sean's been found on the side of the road, injured from a hit-and-run, but when he comes to in the hospital, he has no clear recollection of what happened to him or to Caitlin.

This starts the nightmare years for the family. Mom, Dad, Sean, Caitlin, the Sherriff, and others in the small Colorado town all take a turn at the narrative helm as time goes on. Mom eventually moves back home, Dad stays in Colorado to keep searching for Caitlin, but how can they possibly return to normalcy when their lives will never be normal again?

As a psychological portrait of a family torn apart, particularly with Sean who is wracked with survivor's guilt, Johnston does a great job. Their descent [see what I did there?] into destructive behavior is both gritty and convincing, and the portrayal of a town who wants to move on vs the father who won't let them is moving.

Taut and tense in all the right places, filled with heartbreakingly quotidian scenes in between as life goes on, this story of a daughterless family, a girl, and her years-long captivity is that rara avis: a truly literary thriller. 

14 comments:

  1. OK. Sold. I don't read a lot of thrillers either, but you've convinced me to try this one.

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    1. Hope it's worth it to you! Maybe read the last bit in a sunny place and not right before you go to bed, if thrillers aren't your usual cup of tea.

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  2. "A book that is so engrossing that you're actively contemplating homicide as an alternative to being interrupted?" ahhaha. Well based on this ALONE I should probably read this.

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    1. Well, probably you should. BUT maybe dial your "thriller expectations" back a notch or two since you're All Stephen King, All the Time. What makes my heart race these days might be a cakewalk to you. Who knows?

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    2. Yeah but I trust your judgement on good suspense. It doesn't need to be scary to be suspenseful! Though I will keep it in mind

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  3. Oh this book is right up my street! In fact I am rather glad it's not available here until August so I can allocate it to holiday reading as at the moment I'm playing catch up with other recommendations from you! Sometimes I think I shouldn't log into your blog when I'm so far behind in my reading schedule but cannot resist. I don't usually pre order books 7 months in advance but have this one booked in for my e reader just in time for my summer trip to Greece at the end of August.
    Going to Anguilla this summer?

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    1. Ooh, are you heading back to the same villa you visited last August? Sounds divine, and if you, you'll need PLENTY of books to while away your time.

      Hoping to get to Anguilla, but for a shorter stay this summer, probably late June into early July. I'm taking one week of vacation with my two best friends to go to Ireland in May to celebrate our joint birthdays, so that's one third of my vacation time for the whole year. Barry's not happy that we're losing time in Anguilla this year!

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    2. Oops, meant to ask you, Jan: are you and Doug heading back to Anguilla this summer? Any chance our trips will overlap again?

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  4. Ooh, I think maybe I should have brought this one with me last week while I was traveling! I've got it in the reading plans but have to admit it wasn't anywhere near the top - now it definitely is!

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    1. Hope you enjoy it, Becky, and I look forward to your review!

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  5. I've been hearing a lot about this one! Glad to know it was good!

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    1. Definitely better than I would expect a thriller to be, in that it was very well written.

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  6. This does sound good. I might have to give it a look!

    I had to laugh about your husband getting in the way of your reading. Doesn't he know better by now?!? :)

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    1. Yeah, you'd think he would value his own safety by now, right?

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Please, sir, may I have some more? (Comments, that is!)