Review: Twisted in the Wrong Direction for Me
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 22, 2013
Steve Williams is a park ranger at beautiful Hanging Rock State Park in North Carolina, but he is burdened by tragic memories. Sarah, the girl he loved, was accidentally killed in a car wreck, and he`d been driving the car. Steve had been badly hurt, but he eventually healed. Sarah never would. She lived for five more years in a coma, but her family wouldn't let him near her. He feels hopeless, guilty, alone, and angry at God. Things may have to come to a head before he can ever heal.The first third of this novel was great. I was all poised to give it a strong five and a rave review, when it begin to fall apart. The storyline did such a twist I felt almost betrayed. The author had led me to trust in an ending that would never happen, and I would never feel that close to the story again. I also began to see lots of mistakes. The writing became stilted in places from not using contractions. The book started to head-hop, where different viewpoints were told in the same scene. Unless this book was set before 1971, and it didn't seem to be (they have cell phones), there is no Appalachian College. It is Appalachian State University. I've never seen an orange turnip either. "He" is used where "his" was needed," "o" for "over," and "past" for "pastor." One sentence said, "Steve Mrs. Williams stood up stiffly." When Gracie came into the story, it suddenly seemed more like a soap opera. I couldn't understand why Steve didn't use his cell phone when he was stranded on the boat, because he had it. The middle of the story lost its momentum for me, and it began to drag. Near the end, one minute Steve is saying he barely knows a woman, and the same day he asks her to marry him and is supposedly madly in love. It also made no sense to me that Kelly assumed the shot friend was dead without asking about him, when it was apparent to me he probably wasn't. The ending, however, was very well done, and made me reexamine how I would rate the book. I do feel the book was worth reading. It was pretty clean with no foul language. Any sleeping around was done in the past or by non-Christians, and none of it was ever described at all. Faith played an important part, and I loved Pastor Robert. I would read more by this author.