Descent by Tim Johnston

[Samantha]

I am choosing this book because I have heard some great reviews by people who I tend to agree with. The writing is supposed to be excellent and the plot thrilling; sounds right up my alley.

[Samantha]

The first 70 pages or so pages or so of this book were difficult for me to get through. I had a really hard time with the use of the boy, the girl and he and she early on and found my self being confused and having to go back and figure out what was going on and who someone was.

But once I got a feel for things (or maybe the fog of daylight savings was wearing off) I started to enjoy the story more and by the time I was half way through I was hooked. The writing was vivid and the main characters while flawed were interesting to follow, the thriller part of it was well done and kept the story moving until the end.

[Laura, Mod]

I just started this one and I'm feeling the same way! There's definitely been a few chapters where I had no idea who was reading about. I do like the writing and can tell that the character development is going to be intriguing.

[Laura, Mod]

I finished this one today and gave it 4 stars. It definitely wasn't the thriller that I was expecting but I really felt for the family and the author did really well with portraying them. At the end of the day, I think a novel is pretty successful if it evokes feeling in the reader.

How did you feel about the ending? (view spoiler)[I wondered if I would have enjoyed it more if the initial scenes with Caitlyn would have been entirely removed. Maybe if it would have ended with the one where he hits her in the car. Just because then the reader would have really been along for the family's struggle. It was somewhat different since I knew she was alive, at least up to a certain time. Part of me wishes that it would have given more info about what happened for the family afterwards but I think part of the point of the novel was that the family was sort of limbo and then they were freed. So it wasn't a deal breaker for me. (hide spoiler)]

[Samantha]

I am not really sure how to do the spoiler so I will say that I had some of the same thoughts as you in particular about perhaps wanting to know more about the afterwards but I I think I feel this way with a lot of books :)

I also liked that the end had a few surprising details.

It took me a little bit to recall what took place but in revisiting the book it holds up for me as really enjoyable.