Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Im a bit torn by this book- on one hand its a coming of age store told by that starts in 1960s and moves forward into the 1970s.
The author does a terrific job of painting the details with prose for the reader to give everyday moments in the life of main character Danny lustrous beauty.
At times the story has too much detail and goes on and on AND ON with descriptions, example- “Walking down our icy front side walk, I turn left and head down Parsons Street as the early season winter storm air chills me to the bone. A town truck rumbles by spreading salt in concentric circles, its snow plow scratching the road with an unbearable screeching sound like fingers on a chalkboard, sparks flying. Tree limbs are bent over like old men under the weight of ice from last night’s surprise storm. In the distance, a lonesome siren wails as I turn the corner onto James Street. Looking both ways, I cross over and start up the walkway to number nine. Stamping my feet on the outside mat, I push open the door and am ushered in by a gust of cold air.” Really was all that necessary to say Danny took a walk on a cold winter morning? Wouldn’t the first and last sentence suffice?

On the other hand I felt like I was reading the trailer of movie- a traumatic scene would happen, then the story would zoom forward several weeks or months, often leaving out what happened to the characters afterwards Example that isnt a spoiler- Danny and two friends go to the Woodstock festival. The traffic jam is discussed and because they are staying in a cabin thats 3 miles away they hike over. Its going to rain so they pack rain coats, socks a shirt and shorts, peanut butter and beer. On the way through the woods they see wild turkeys. ( we get excessive detail here) He describes the sea of people and what they are doing. They climb into a deer stand and one character says “ This is fantastic “. Someone isn’t feeling well, and they miss the friend who isn’t there. End chapter. No other details of anything happening at the festival is discussed. What happened when it rained?
The story involves abusive clergy, but the abuse is not shown, instead we see the after effects. There are missing children but after one short scene where they find and report a child’s skeleton, noting else is mentioned until the very end. There are five funerals, but none of the characters connected emotionally for me.

I feel like this book was much longer and was brutally edited, and all the wrong parts were taken out. It was enjoyable but didn’t really give me the experience of living the 1960s that I was hoping for.

The Needle Shower

Thanks to Netgalley and to the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this epic and beautiful novel.

This author has such an amazing talent writing detailed descriptions!

A captivating story about 3 best friends and their unbreakable lifelong connections. As the story evolves, fascinating historical events that occured during the timeframe of this novel are artfully chronicled, you almost feel you were there yourself (Woodstock, for example).

If you are a fan of Lorenzo Carcaterra's bestseller Sleepers, give this engaging book a read.

Note: trigger warning sexual abuse.

I really enjoyed this novel, it had a great concept for a mystery. Don Heywood does a great job in telling the story and making characters that I cared about. I was invested in what was going on and thought it worked well overall. I the way Don Heywood wrote this and look forward to more.

"Minutes later, I see a dull light bouncing off of the tunnel walls and boiling water. Soon, the light brightens and Tommy materializes holding a sledgehammer, its head rusted orange, and a long piece of rebar high over his head with his left hand while holding the rope in his other, the flashlight stuck in his front pocket shining upwards, the water level just inches below it."