The Water Keeper by Charles Martin (2020) After eviscerating that worthless movie "Ava" yesterday, it occurred to us that we should try to finish out this toxic year on a more positive note........
After all, the oncoming 2021 brings the promise of two wonderful things......more life-saving vaccines and vaccinations for all of us and the blessed, much prayed for finish to the horrifying cancer of Donald Trump.......
So we celebrate today with a terrific book to recommend to you.
We're almost tempted to use that ancient sentence that reviewers on Goodreads employ when they come across a book they like......(and let me tell you, the avid readers who post reviews on that site are some tough cookies with very high standards....)
It goes something like, "This is the first Charles Martin book I've read and it won't be my last!!"
Even if that line's a hoary cliche, we couldn't have said it better.
This book stunned us completely in its ability to combine two dissimilar genres.....the heartbreaking romantic tragedy and gut-wrenching sentiment of a Nicholas Sparks book blended with the ultra-violent, take no prisoners, bloody action-adventure tropes of.......(well, you pick your favorite action author and slot the name in this space......)
Charles Martin fearlessly careens his story back and forth from one of these genres to the other......you won't know whether you should keep a box of tissues handy or an extra pillow to cushion your butt while you're sitting on the edge of your seat....
The author's world weary, modern day knight-in-Kevlar-armor, Murphy Shepherd, is a government operative who specializes in rescuing innocent girls who've been abducted for slave auctions by human traffickers,
And his many crusading quests against the most evil human beings on earth invariably leave Shepherd grievously wounded, both physically and emotionally........on top of the already painful, raw emotional baggage he carries over a doomed, lost love of his own.
His latest mission takes him up and down the south Florida coast in search of another kidnapped girl, along with the help the girl's distraught mother, a dying ex-convict and a hardened runaway orphan teen girl in search of her birth mother.
If all this sounds like huge amount of stuff for one book to carry on its shoulders, you're right.......and the astounding plot twists that ensue defy all rational explanation. But the more over the top the book became, the more we loved it......Charles Martin's unafraid to wear his heart on his sleeve while spilling gallons of blood at the same time......
We can tell you we've never read a book quite like this.......in the way it daringly throws together the most heartfelt moments imaginable with kick-ass, explosive violence that's the equal of any thriller on the best seller lists these days.
BQ says treat yourself for the new year, "The Water Keeper" is a 5 star (*****) bona fide, real deal FIND OF FINDS.
No comments:
Post a Comment