Friday, April 24, 2015

Finding Jake by Bryan Reardon

5 Star

While his successful wife goes off to her law office each day, Simon Connolly takes care of their kids, Jake and Laney. Now that they are in high school, the angst-ridden father should feel more relaxed, but he doesn't. He’s seen the statistics, read the headlines. And now, his darkest fear is coming true. There has been a shooting at school. 

Simon races to the rendezvous point, where he’s forced to wait. Do they know who did it? How many victims were there? Why did this happen? One by one, parents are led out of the room to reunite with their children. Their numbers dwindle, until Simon is alone.

As his worst nightmare unfolds, and Jake is the only child missing, Simon begins to obsess over the past, searching for answers, for hope, for the memory of the boy he raised, for mistakes he must have made, for the reason everything came to this. Where is Jake? What happened in those final moments? Is it possible he doesn’t really know his son? Or he knows him better than he thought?


Sabrina-Kate - 5 Star

Finding Jake is definitely one of my favorite reads of this year and I think it may even be my absolute favorite read of the year. Considering just how much I really really loved this book, I think it will be hard to beat. I always really enjoy a book that keeps me up late at night (even though I am exhausted) and have things to do the next day and I was up super late the night I read this book. (Until 4 am) And the fact that I was hurting the next day but didn't mind at all, ok maybe a little bit, just indicates to me the power of this story.

The story focuses around the Connolly family and their involvement in a fatal school shooting. The story is told by the father, Simon, and is a heart wrenching, suspenseful and somewhat agonizing account of the day that changed their lives forever. A school shooting happens and questions abound, especially since their son, Jake, is seemingly nowhere to be found and therefore somewhat suspect in the situation.

As a parent, I found myself contemplating what I would do and how I would feel if this was my story and if my child was involved. It brought up some very interesting thoughts and was a real eye opener in some ways. I hope to never have to be part of or even have anyone close to me be part of such a horrible event, yet I do know that terrible things happen in this world. This story was so realistic and written in such a way that it just brought those ideas to life and impressed just how possible something like this could be.

I could not put this story down because I wanted, even needed, to find out exactly what was going on and just how everything came to pass or worked out. The story was entirely consuming and time flew by as I was drawn ever deeper into the Connolly family drama.

Written as a suspenseful and emotionally riveting dramatic tale of what we really believe about those we love and think we know most, this is a MUST read for anyone who loves a great story with a powerful message.

Thank you to William Morrow for our review copy.  All opinions are our own.

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1 comment:

  1. Oh WOW! I can't even begin to imagine how scary that situation would be or what I would do if it were my son ...

    Thanks for being a part of the tour!

    ReplyDelete

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