Road Seven
“Crazy how pain could become commonplace, like its own appendage. As familiar as a shirt you wore.”
I got an advanced reader copy of Road Seven by Keith Rosson from Booksirens.
The description of this book is misleading. It says that Mark Sandoval is the main character, which he is not. Brian Schutt is the main character. It also says that Mark Sandoval embarks on his unicorn-chasing cryptozoology adventure because he was involved with a serious drunken hit and run. He was, but that is not revealed until about 60% of the way through. Brian has the much juicier character arc, but he is not even mentioned in the description.
The story is compelling. The prose is engaging and humorous. Brian is a PhD student in anthropology and is in a rut. He experiences a traumatic event which prompts him to accept a job with the famous and arrogant cryptozoologist, Mark, who is running from a traumatic event of his own. Mark has received grainy footage from Karla, a woman in rural Iceland who claims she has seen a unicorn.
Rosson's descriptions of academia were accurate (maybe a little too close to home).
“Brian, truly no slouch in the sentence-designing department, given his long-running tenure as an academic man-baby, opened his mouth to speak”
I can't relate to designing long sentences. Or to living in suspended adolescence because society doesn't value (or properly pay) higher education in the humanities. No, you're feeling attacked by a book.
Rosson also describes chronic pain disturbingly well.
“Crazy how pain could become commonplace, like its own appendage. As familiar as a shirt you wore.”
Today as I am reviewing this book, I am having a (rare) pain-free day. I had the strange feeling something was missing, and then I remembered. I am not trying to fight through a haze of pain. It was a strange and unsettling realization. I did not enjoy it.
See above: I am definitely not feeling attacked by this book and it is beyond rude of you to continue bringing it up.
The first half of this book is very strong, but it does not manage to keep it up through the second. From their landing in Iceland, Brian and Mark face a superficial warm welcome, but can feel a layer of menace beneath the surface. As the intrigue deepens, I found the plot to become more melodramatic and unrealistic. It began to read more like a thriller, which is a genre into which I do not often venture because of its tendency to be melodramatic and unrealistic. Maybe that was the point, but it did not work for me.
The ending brought it all around for me and over all I really enjoyed this book and would absolutely recommend it.
