Russell Sanders's Reviews > Caught Inside

As a writer, I am always searching for the perfect words, hoping I can replace the ones I use over and over with much better choices. All too often, I feel I search in vain for those magical words. But Jamie Deacon, in his novel Caught Inside, does it effortlessly. I am enthralled with his carefully chosen vocabulary, his ability to use just the perfect word to express what he wants, to compose the most lovely metaphors. His writing is skillful and, oftentimes, exquisite. Just to revel in his prose is a delight. But don’t think that Deacon is a writer who can deliver the words but not the goods. Caught Inside is a heartachingly beautiful love story. It tells of seventeen-year-old Luke Savage, surfer extraordinaire, who goes with his ultra-rich girlfriend Zara to spend the summer at her family’s beachside cottage in Cornwall. There they are joined by Zara’s cousin Theo, and seeing the luxury he has been thrust into and experiencing the lives of the privileged Zara and Theo, middle-class Luke is astounded and feels a bit out of his league. That is pointed up further when Theo’s best friend Giles arrives. Giles makes no bones about his contempt for Luke and his poorer self. But this is a love story after all, and before the book ends Luke will suffer the highs and lows, the anguish, the joy of first love. Deacon matches his beautiful writing with beautifully wrought characters and what turns out to be an achingly beautiful story. Caught Inside is for everyone who has ever been in love, who wants to be in love, who knows the stress of love won, love lost, love won, love lost, love won—that merry-go-round we know as life.