Hello everyone!
Back with a book blog this week, as per usual on Thursdays, and of course, like it happens every once in a while for me, I deviate towards Nicholas Sparks.
Yes, yes, I know.
Why would I do something like that to myself, you ask?
Well, alright, here's the thing: I don't know.
I just generally feel as if my reading experience needs to be completed by reading Sparks novels, although I will admit that I'm not the biggest fan of his newest works, honestly.
I kind of much prefer the books he wrote while he was still married, but considering he had to go through a divorce, I figure I'll cut the guy some slack - but that being said, however, I can still admit to not liking some of his books.
See Me, unfortunately, fell under that category.
I'm not sure why I didn't like it as much as I liked the others. Generally speaking, looking at this book, there's nothing really WRONG with it, if you want to describe it.
But.
It just didn't work, somehow.
The premise of the story is this: Colin, a multiple-time offender, has been given a second chance, but he needs to stick to the straight and narrow for five years until his parole officer (a detective I really didn't like until the last dozen pages or so) will leave him alone. He had an unhappy childhood (Colin, not the detective) as a third kid, an oops, who his parents just handed off to a nanny and then almost forgot about him, apparently.
He was never diagnosed with ADHD or anything of the sort, which would have been the first thing that should have happened, really, considering his acting out in class and pent up aggression, but instead he was sent to military school where he went through a traumatic experience of nearly dying under the bullying of some older kids, and that left him with PTSD.
Several military schools and transgressions later, Colin was given the ultimatum about what he has to do to ensure he'll be alright, eventually, or as alright as he could make it, which is what he's following, or the mantra he uses, throughout the book.
He lives with his best friend, Evan, and Evan's fiancée Lily, who have both taken a shine to him and tend to help him out whenever it's possible, which is lucky for him, or he might have been in big trouble.
Now, on to Maria.
Maria is a lawyer and the oldest daughter of a Mexican immigrant couple who have a successful restaurant where most of their family works. She has a younger sister, Serena, who is a whole lot more outgoing and generally fun than Maria, who takes life seriously all the time.
Maria and Colin first meet on a rainy road where she's struggling to change a tire, and initially she's afraid of him, but Serena, who shares a class with Colin on campus, senses something about him and pretty much sets the two of them up by bringing Maria to the bar where Colin works.
From there, the story is fairly typical Sparks with the pair of them going on multiple dates (involved in this is paddleboarding which I think was thrown in because people love it so much nowadays) and gradually growing closer, but also going at it at quite the speed since I do believe they decide to get serious after ... a week? Two weeks?
In any event, super fast, that's what I took away from it.
Now, as you an imagine, Maria's parents aren't necessarily that happy about Colin given his past, but he can at least promise them that he's doing his best. Lily and Evan, on the other hand, are charmed with Maria and definitely approve.
Okay, so where's the catch?
Well, there's two of them.
Maria works at a law firm where one of her co-workers, Ken (even is name is obnoxious) is basically sexually harassing her, but she's too timid to press charges, as opposed to what some of her other co-workers do when they gang up on the man and threaten to sue the firm because of what he did. Also, they have proof. Boo-yah, Ken.
Maria's friend, Jill, offers to hire Maria in her own firm which she and another friend will be opening soon enough, which is a relief because it means she'll finally get something else to do with her life.
Now, to the second catch.
Someone is stalking Maria and her family.
Yes, this doesn't sound right for a Sparks novel, and I think that might have been the reason why it didn't quite work out so well, because it's certainly not something we're used to from the man, or maybe because he doesn't have enough experience with the genre to deliver something of the sort.
In any event, it goes like this: Maria used to work for the DA's office and got a case about a domestic violence abuse. The woman pressed charges, but the guy was unfortunately not stuffed in jail and ended up abducting her, then killing both her and himself. The girl's family fell apart with the mother committing suicide, the father losing his medical license and her brother being admitted into a psychiatric hospital after stalking and threatening Maria.
Now this all starts up again and initially, everyone thinks it might be Ken, but soon enough connections to the old case arrive and Maria realises it's probably the brother once more, not that anyone is convinced since the father says his son is still incarcerated. It could also be the boyfriend, considering the dead girl had already moved on by the time she was abducted.
Anyway, what happens is the usual trope of messages, roses, slashed tires, a dead dog, the sort of thing which makes you think the circle is closing in.
Colin and Maria talk to the detective who follows Colin around, and they all agree that something about the case just isn't right because they're getting too much willing information and also, because there's no sign of the other guy aside from some weird emails.
What happens next is a little bit shocking, but nothing too out of the ordinary: the detective gets shot while trying to apprehend the suspect (the dead girl's brother, who is, unfortunately, not quite there), but Colin and Evan both get the bad guy and save the officer's life. However, they've only shaved off the tip of the iceberg, as it turns out that Sparks has one more twist for us.
It wasn't actually the other boyfriend - he's very dead.
It was father and son working together to get revenge on Maria.
The doctor posed as someone who could offer Serena a scholarship for further classes, wanting to kill HER as opposed to Maria so that Maria and her family would feel the same pain as he had felt at the death of his daughter.
Colin manages to arrive on time to get Serena out of the burning warehouse she's in, but ends up getting shot for his efforts, and would have gotten killed if Evan and Lily (okay so here's the thing: Colin figured things out while they were all converged at Maria's parents' home, and tore out of there, and everyone followed in their own cars) hadn't arrived on time.
Evan slams his car into the doctor's, but it bursts into flames.
The book ends with an epilogue tying everything up: Serena is recovering from her captivity and slowly going back to her usual self. Maria and Colin seem to be stronger than ever and his parents want to meet her. Evan and Lily survived the car crash - Lily without a scratch, but Evan suffered second degree burns and had a limp that finally heals just in time for his wedding to Lily, to which everyone's invited.
And they all lived happily ever after.
The prevalent themes in this book are that old crimes cast long shadows, but also that social media is just as dangerous as regular mail, because Serena, throughout the book, keeps posting updates and tweets about where she is at any given time and what she'll be doing, which makes her movements really easy to track and follow.
So I suppose the lesson here is that the judicial system needs some more work, trust your gut instincts, and don't tell everyone you're going to the toilet on Facebook.
All in all, while it was an enjoyable enough read to spend some mindless hours, it wasn't one of those I'd pick up again, unlike The Longest Ride, Safe Haven or The Choice, to name just a few. But even so, I suppose when Sparks publishes another book, I'll read it just the same.
I'm loyal like that.
xx
*image not mine
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