One Lane Bridge

What a pleasant surprise from a free Kindle Buffet book!

One Lane Bridge, written by Don Reid of the country-music artist The Statler Brothers, tells the story of J.D. Wickman and a series of mystical moments that both change his life and remind him that we are all part of a much bigger whole. One evening, while taking a drive to de-stress, Wickman crosses a one-lane bridge and has a little car trouble. He stops and gets help from a poor family and, after they help him get back on the road, decides he wants to pay it forward by taking them some groceries the next day. Only they aren't there. The bridge, the house, the family...all gone. Through a series of remarkable twists and turns, J.D. finds out that he is somehow transported back to 1942 and he spends the remainder of the novel trying to discover why.

Taken from a literary angle, One Lane Bridge is a well-told story. Reid's characters are believable and he does a great job of making his reader feel empathy toward them. Reid weaves themes of family and duty into the narrative. Though initially off-putting for me as a reader, Reid does a skillful job of making one feel Wickman's frustration with his family and friends (while no one believes his story about the bridge and they subsequently try to get him medical and psychological help). The novel does a good job of being contemporary without being overly nostalgic or folksy.