Review: Wonderfully done and left me unsettled
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 8, 2012
The characters in this book were amazingly gritty and real, even when that meant they were sad and depressing, which is a hard thing to do in a shorter piece of fiction. The portrayal of a declining port town is amazing as well. It really pulled me in to a world I really know very little about but didn't leave me feeling like I was having to figure it out or make assumptions. Everything you need to 'get' it and feel the oppressive atmosphere is right there.Iwan, the main character, and his best friend Lyn made me feel like I was getting brought into an inner circle of some sort. The two of them are great characters and a fantastic pair to be best friends. They support each other without question, but won't take any BS from each other, either.Iwan's angst and inner turmoil are all explained masterfully near the end of the story, but the thing I loved about this was that it didn't really matter for most of the story. It was actually better to hold off the big reveal. All through my reading of this I could relate to Iwan, even though his reasons for anxiety and self-consciousness were radically different from mine. The very vagueness that makes the ending more powerful really helps the reader to connect to Iwan in a personal way that I think most readers will find novel, no pun intended, once they've learned Iwan's secret.Anyway, thank you Mr. Smith for a great story.This book was given to me for review through netgalley.com