Chasing Fireflies by Charles Martin 5 stars, not rounded up

[Karin]

You can knock me over with a feather. I cannot believe that the best new-to-me book is in this genre because it's so rare that this happens! It was so good that while I started it one night, the next day it was not only the only fiction I wanted to read, I stayed up late to finish it.

This is not fluffy or light, but the writing is good--the protagonist very believable. What I loved was the STORY, and it is haunting, as the blurb says, and the people, even though there was tragedy, had been abused, etc. Yes, there are a very few people who gave this 2 stars (well, I have given low rating to some brilliant literary books--that's life). The mystery might be hard for some people to understand, especially with certain spoilers I won't give here, but so what?

There is heartbreak, tragedy, abuse, dysfunctional families--this isn't your fluffy Christian novel, nor are there any church scenes, prayers or pastors in it--at least one character is one of your worst nightmares of a hypocrite in a local church (but we all know this happens!).

I plan to read more by Charles Martin, but will try to go to the next book with full skepticism again, because I don't want to assume he's always this good as I have made that mistake with many authors before. However, I am hoping he is at least as consistent as Christa Parrish was when she was writing BUT he has a different style.