(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

When a policeman accidentally runs over a young boy on a fog-shrouded street in Saginaw, Michigan, it thrusts three families into a head-on collision with grief, violence and chaos…
Officer Nathan Hazzard: for years now a dirty cop and on the brink of losing touch with reality, willingly releases himself from society’s shackles…
Luther Anderson: a young man whose only true concerns up to the day of the accident is to care for his crippled brother and their grandmother, becomes the target of intense hatred…
Raul Spencer: a disgruntled son working at his father’s funeral home; an adulterer, who fears his sins will find him out, blames everyone else for his problems even as his selfishness leads him ever more astray…
Geneva Spencer: the wounded mother who holds her dying son in her arms and finds that there is no one there to hold her as the life she knew takes a dark turn once Officer Hazzard starts pursuing her for reasons she can’t begin to understand…

*3.5 stars*

I have read a few of Lee Thompson's books previous to this and enjoyed them quite a lot. So I was excited for this one. And it was pretty good, too - not as good as the others, but well worth reading.

The book starts out well enough - the tragic accident involving a young boy which starts the varied storylines for the characters. It was like a chain reaction of small incidents that lead to the tragedy. And from that chain reaction, the story explodes...I think the storytelling was pretty good here. Sure, there were some plot threads that were just a little bit unbelievable - but I guess it depends on what you are looking for. I read these kinds of stories cos I don't want "normal" or "everyday" - I want to be taken by surprise - and this book did that (for the most part.)

The only real issue I had with this book were the characters - apart from the fact that Officer Hazzard had been a lunatic on the job for twenty years and never been caught - I just found them to be a bit awful. Misogyny among the men, and the women were cast as hopeless and needy.

Overall, a good story that, with a few tweaks, would have really been a fantastic story!


Paul
ARH