Helpful Score: 2
This is an excellent read for high schoolers as well as adults. Jake Rivers, owner of a mountaineering/adventure travel company in Colorado is hired by a man, Mr. Jelem, ostensibly to find his daughter Claire, last seen in the company of one of Jake's college pals, Alec. However, once Jake begins revisiting his college friends, someone tries very hard to stop Jake from finding out what really happened.
The book's narrative flips back and forth from Jake's early 1990s college years (alt-rock bands are name dropped excessively) to 2005, when Jake begins his investigation. There's also a romantic subplot involving reformed party animal Jake and his college sweetheart, Alyssa.
The concept of reformation is nicely handled. The reader sees Jake's drunken antics in college and his turning away from alcohol later. The college, Providence, is a Christian college, yet the behavior of Jake and his friends well illustrates the apostle Paul's point "Bad associations spoil useful habits."
The book's narrative flips back and forth from Jake's early 1990s college years (alt-rock bands are name dropped excessively) to 2005, when Jake begins his investigation. There's also a romantic subplot involving reformed party animal Jake and his college sweetheart, Alyssa.
The concept of reformation is nicely handled. The reader sees Jake's drunken antics in college and his turning away from alcohol later. The college, Providence, is a Christian college, yet the behavior of Jake and his friends well illustrates the apostle Paul's point "Bad associations spoil useful habits."
I had a very difficult time getting into this book. I think part of it was the switching back and forth between the past & present which in itself wasn't too bad except, the present was written from the "I" point of view. Not an easy read at all. I also didn't like that they were constantly getting drunk. Not my kind of read. I wouldn't recommend it. I gave up after 50 pages.
Kind of a hard book to review--it moves back and forth from the year 1994 one chapter then to 2005 the next chapter and that is the way this story is written, it isn't confusing and it kept my attention but it was hard to understand exactly where it was going and why. Being considered a Christian concept I guess it shows how you can change from the college drunken fun boy to the grown up responsible man.
