Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson

Pete seems to be the exact opposite of what people expect from a social worker, both from a physical perspective and most certainly based on his lifestyle choices.

Alcohol, drugs and violent altercations. The relationship between his ex and their daughter is a shambles. His own family is a superb example of lack of communication and a lifetime of recriminations.

Doesn't exactly seem like the type to solve the problems of children or teens in dire need of help, and yet he does become the single lifeline of many.

Mary seems like such a breath of fresh air in the beginning, perhaps even a chance or a new beginning for Pete. Her childhood and past creates a void between them.

What must it be like to know that the inevitability of your past is always chasing you. Always being present and at the forefront of people's minds, ergo they judge before they have taken the time to get to know her.

Saying that, is someone who has fallen prey to the system of social care and been dropped into the black hole of Forgotten, able to be anything other than their past?

If you have seen, done, or have had every imaginable and unimaginable cruelty done to you, is there a way of ever leaving that behind? When I say behind I mean trying not to let it guide the future, at least not in a negative way.

Curtis is the perfect example of a child on his way into the same type of black hole in the very much overextended social services system. His behaviour is typical of one that has been abused. He is over-sexualized, has a tendency towards unpredictable and violent behaviour. He ends up where Pete knows he will become a lost cause, just another statistic on the path to destruction.

Pete becomes so frustrated at one point that he actually steps into the group of non trustworthy people in the boy's life. The one person Curtis has accepted as a type of anchor in tumultuous seas starts to look more like a dinghy with a hole.

The irony of the story is of course the fate of Pete's daughter. Her life becomes a sequence of predictable events, the type of events that follow in the tread of neglectful parents. Pete swings between worry and forgetting her existence, and he completely ignores her plea for help.

So whilst he is fully prepared to go to the ends of the earth for the children of others his own becomes disappears into the system and out of his life altogether. The reader finds themselves with a conundrum. Is Pete a hero or is he the abuser? How can he bend the rules and go to such extensive lengths to save one
family and facilitate the destruction of his own?

I do so enjoy the type of story that ends up shining the light on the perfect imperfection of human nature.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley, courtesy of Random House UK, Cornerstone.

Synbio by Leslie Alan Horvitz

I think I can safely say that after reading this book I now know a lot about DNA and genetics.

Perhaps even more than I would like to know or imagine possible.

The use of bio-genetics as a biological weapon of warfare.

If it ever becomes as simple as it seems in this story then I am afraid we have something to worry about.

Kudos to the author for simplifying the process and explanations, so that a layman can understand all the science involved.

We see Eugenie find her moral compass and at the same time she is struck by the reality of not being able to do anything to change the plight of others or those in need. It is  interesting to see that contradiction in someone who appears so completely ruthless and jaded.

I think Seth plays the key-role of the scientist confronted by the conundrum most scientists have to face or acknowledge eventually. To discover can also often men holding the key to a potential weapon. Each cure can become a recipe for death, and each new step forward could mean any steps backwards for humanity.

It could do with a little more structure and direction. The development of the main characters suffers a little from the sheer magnitude of the main plot and sub-plots.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley.

Far Gone by Laura Griffin

What didn’t gel very well for me was the way Gavin was treated from a legal point of view. Being the brother of cop shouldn’t be a free pass, especially when domestic terrorism is involved. He aided and abetted a criminal, and yet that is conveniently forgotten.

I would have liked to have read more about the incident that gets Andrea suspended. From a police perspective she has done her duty and yet it seems as if the powers that be would rather be dealing with a mass shooting instead. A moral conundrum or just plain old politics? How is her decision brought into question at all, given the facts of the event?

Andrea is attacked and the reader never actually finds out the why and the who, so what was the point of that scene aside from setting up a sympathy scene with Jon later on in the book.

The domestic terrorist plot starts off quite well and there are some interesting comparisons made to the Oklahoma bombing. Overall it could have been a lot stronger from a plot point of view if the author hadn’t been so divided by the fact she also wanted to tell a story of a romantic encounter.
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley.

Just between you, me and tiny world of web...what a beautiful cover and what on earth does it have to do with the story?