Review - "A Feeling in my Bones" by Gervase Shorter

Genre: Crime/Mystery

A bit about the author 

Born in England, Gervase spent his military service hunting terrorists through the forests of Mount Kenya. After studying medieval history at Oxford he caught the Transiberian train to Vladivostok on his way to Japan, where he lived for four years. He travelled back to Europe overland and then spent three years in Lisbon, moving in 1973 to Rio de Janeiro where he now divides his time between an apartment overlooking the lagoon and a farm 3,000 feet up in the mountains where he grows bananas, avocados, persimmon and pecan nuts. He is married with four adult children.

A bit about the book

Jake and Sally meet at the university and falls in love. Later they get married and live in the English countryside. Jake works as a consultant, a "fixer" between larger companies and Sally works as a book editor. On one of Jake's jobs abroad he disappears while on an assignment for a reclusive billionaire. Rumors says he's off to Africa, but Sally doesn't know his whereabouts. Everything is very secret. A month later Jake reappears in a mental clinic in Miami suffering from a nervous breakdown and their life changes dramatically.

What happened to Jake when he was abroad? Did he really go to Central Africa? Why does he behave so distant and strange? And where does all the money Jake suddenly inherited from the now dead billionaire really come from? Little by little Sally discovers the truth, and what she finds is so frightening that she has to run for her life.

My evaluation

This is a novel with a potentially very interesting story line! I get, however, more and more disappointed the further I read. Instead of building suspense around the main plot, the story gets off track again and again with uninteresting information and side stories.

Parts of the writing is very good and keeps me turning the pages. It is as if the author's enthusiasm comes and goes in waves. But overall I don't really get to know the main character and narrator of the story, Sally, even though I get a lot of information about her. She doesn't engage or intrique me. Jake's character seems also very vague. When I loose interest in the main characters I also loose interest in the story. Do I really want to know what this is all about?

The biggest disappointment however is the end of the novel, which could have been very interesting with the sketched main plot in mind. But I find it too rushed and abrupt finalized compared to the very good parts which lead up to "the grand finale". The end is as if the author lost the spark again - a little too soon. Again I am left thinking.. "what was this?" Not convinced.

My rating

of 5 

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 414 KB
Print Length: 252 pages
Publisher: Amazon; 2 edition (September 7, 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B005UNJDFA

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