Side Trip

Refreshing Departure. This book evokes both Laurie Breton's Coming Home and Emily Bleeker's Wreckage, and at least to this reviewer those are high compliments indeed - those two books easily rank among the best I've ever read. Here, Lonsdale breaks quite a bit from the mold she's created for herself over the last few years and indeed the one primary commonality across her last four books is not present here at all. Yet she shows her true abilities as a storyteller in still telling a phenomenal story even without that particular device, and truly masters the road trip style tale in the process.

The one criticism I have here is that to me, the book could have done without the final chapter and epilogue. To me, the book ends perfectly right before that point - but your mileage may vary in this regard, and indeed with the last chapter in particular, Lonsdale does something that would be a spoiler to reveal, but which adds extra depth to the book.

Still, truly a phenomenal work, a very refreshing new style from this author, and very much recommended.