Hi my bookish friends!
Today I have the pleasure to bring you my thoughs on the crime fiction book Parabellum, written by Greg Hickey. Parabellum follows the story of 4 persons and ends up to a mass shooting. The reader is tasked with following the story of the 4 individuals right up to the day of the shooting. Are you up to guessing who did it??
You can read the blurp about the story here.
Let me begin by saying that Parabellum is one of those books that will not sit with you lightly. It WILL trouble you and cosnume your thoughts. You will not want to put it down but, if you are like me, then here is where work, kids and overall daily obligations come and meddle with your plans! :))
Parabellum opens with a gory scene of a mass shooting in Lake Michigan, lots of people shot dead in the water and all around the shore. It is a scene of death, it is the end…
From then on the author takes the reader on a journey to find the truth, to see what happened, to… understand. It is a story about the life of 4 individuals, told for each of them separately, a war veteran, a computer programmer, a high school student and an ex-college athlete.
The character building in the book is amazing. It is so spot on and it is what made the book be what it is for me, if that makes sense. The way that it all builts up and how the feelings and experiences of the 4 protagonists are explained and described really takes the reader into the depths of their minds and their feelings.
The readers follow the story as if they are just a fly on the wall watching the life of the 4 protagonists from the side lines, being a part of their present but also delved into their past, into the memories of all 4 of them. And it’s these memories that shape their characters. Their story allows the readers to see why they had the thougts and feelings they were currently having in the present time.
Here I also need to note that the author did not use any names for the characters. They are all referred to with their current ‘status’ in the world, war veteran, computer programmer, high school student and ex-college athlete. I must admit that at first it felt a bit weird to read a book without a name for each of the characters but I soon came to realise that names, really, had no part in the book nor would they change the whole reading experience. So much so that when their names are mentioned at the last part of the book it comes so effortlessly it almost slipped my attention, it was alsmost as if I already knew their names.
I also loved the descriptions in the book. Descriptions of places, of feelings, of buildings, of everything. They are all so vivid. It is a life long dream of mine to visit the U.S.A and when I do I will definetely visist Lake Michigan!
And now for the rating, drum roll please!!!!
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Last but most definetely not least, I would like to thank Greg, very much, for allowing me to read his book in exchange for an honest review. You can learn a little more about Greg on his website or give him a follow on twitter.
That is all from me today.
Thank you for reading.
Till next time.
Christina x
Christinas Bookescapes 