18 - The Long Way Home

Finished The Long Way Home by Andrew Klavan for Thomas Nelson.

This is the sequel to The Last Thing I Remember. And like The Last Thing I Remember, I spent the first two-thirds completely annoyed by the character and the last third unable to put the book down. (Book 3 is out in November; odds are good I will end up buying it.)

Charlie is still on the run from various agencies, both good (police) and bad (scary terrorist cell). He's starting to piece together exactly what's happened and why he came to in a scary room with bloodstained tools. He's also got a little bit of a support system in this one.

I think my big problem is that Charlie is kind of obnoxious. He really dislikes his history teacher (not hates, because Charlie is Good and does not hate) because the history teacher is all, "America's not perfect; it's greedy and racist and violent" and Charlie is basically like, "The hell you say!"

And here's the thing. I love my country, but we aren't perfect. We ARE a greedy, violent, racist society. And while it's all well and good to cling to moral absolutes--however unrealistic that is--it's a little odd to be doing that while breaking your own rules.

(Also, Klavan broke up the action at least once per book to remind us that the police officers chasing Charlie are the good guys and that they are deliberately trying not to hurt or kill him because they're so good. And really, if there's a suspected murderer/terrorist on the loose, I don't care how good the cop is, they will shoot you and they will hit you. They may not kill you, but they're certainly not going to keep letting you escape.)

But this is intended for young adults--and Christian young adults at that--so maybe that's why the moralizing is so heavyhanded. And it's highly possible teens will love this way more than I did. (And like I said, I spent the last third unable to turn the pages quickly enough, so clearly he's doing something right.)