I had planned on reading this while on vacation on a North Carolina beach but plans change. My mistake was starting to read this book on a rainy Saturday a week before my trip; I finished it the next day. It had been quite some time since I tore through a book with such such velocity, so immersed in the author's world that it became almost a false memory.

Iron House is a book of barely suppressed memories, of abuse and rising above the pain. The thing that makes Hart's characters work is heart. One can perceive the innate goodness in people no matter how much circumstances conspire to corrupt. Love and loyalty can overcome neglect and mental illness.

The characters are appropriately complex, damaged, and so very human. We root for the brothers to succeed throughout. There are some very bad people in the world and we're introduced to a few of them. A minor criticism is that Elena was a bit thin and stereotypical but then again she was more of a cameo than a star.

Overall maybe a perfect beach book, if you can wait to get to the beach to open it.

















A first reads giveaway reviewer