Tuesday, 21 February 2017

Steven Manchester

A new author to me, Steven Manchester has created a new kind of road trip with this book. It's darkly funny and I enjoyed it a great deal.



Ashes

Amazon.com link

My review - 

Brothers Tom and Jason Prendergast have been summoned to their late father’s lawyer’s office to be told that, unless they fulfil his wishes and scatter his ashes in Seattle, they may not inherit the contents of an envelope he’s left for them. The men, both in their fifties, have been at loggerheads for years. This looks like being the most uncomfortable road trip ever. The story moves between the present day and their constant bickering, back to their childhood, and scenes of the monstrous bullying their father subjected them to. They had each other, though, until things fell apart.

The relationship between the brothers, whose lives had taken such different paths, was initially very prickly and filled with animosity. As the story progressed, they reminisced and their relationship evolved. Their father’s final instruction brought them to the place of his choosing. At this point, they found something he’d kept from them since they were small. They found it almost too late.

The story had a lot of dark humour in it, which I enjoyed. I also loved the growing sense of trust between the warring brothers. The whole book had a kind of roundness to it, a fitness and a satisfying ending. Steven Manchester’s writing style suits this story which I enjoyed very much. Be aware that the story finishes at 81% of the book and you won’t be taken by surprise, as I was, by the end arriving when it did.


I received an advance review copy of Ashes.

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