Review: Excellent smooth writing style that carries you into the story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 13, 2014
Bill Cronin shares a name with one of Britain's most celebrated writers, A J Cronin. Whether he is related to A J, I don't know, but if he is that explains why his story is so mesmerising and captivating: perhaps an inherited talent. The warm cosy style reminded me of F Scott Fitzgerald, and the hero, Jack McNamara, is quite a conundrum. A bestselling author who has come to the end of the road. Why? Because he cannot write another word. Right from the start you want to know the reason why.We meet Jack and warm to his problems. Jack had a specially close relationship with his now deceased mother, a would-be writer who was too self critical to step into the author arena, but was instrumental in her son's choice of career. His father, a bitter, unimaginative jealous kind of man, always decried Jack's writing ambitions, warning him it would end in depression and suicide.Is his father's prediction coming true? Jack wonders.At rock bottom, he seeks help and realises that there's no way he can go on unless he faces up to some big mysteries in his own life, things he has bottled up for years, and which, he surmises, he has to face up to if he is to survive.The book is about how he delves into his family history and finds quite a few surprises, some good, some bad, but all pretty life changing.The pleasure of reading this is Bill Cronin's friendly yet masterful writing style, you feel as if you're sharing a late night cup of coffee with a close friend, who is pouring his heart out to you, telling you all his secrets, and trusting you to try and help him. This is the kind of writing skill that no one can ever teach you, it has to come from within. In fact I think you have to be born with a talent like this.This is the type of book that you're sad when it ends, because you want it to go on: it's a friend over a lunch break, or during a railway journey, a companion to wile away ten minutes before bed.  Why? Because you can like Jack McNamara, and like the good people he comes across on his travels and you want good things to happen to him and them. Does it have a happy ending? You'll have to read the book to find out. But I promise you it's worth it.