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kieranlit's review
3.0
Oddly enough, I read this book as Phoning a Dead Man.
Hayley's brother John is dead, killed in Russia on one of his demolition jobs. Her mother has burned all his things and his friend Annie keeps calling. When Annie reveals that she is John's fiancee and decides to go to Russia to see where John died, Hayley decides to go too, to see the place and help Annie with her wheelchair. But odd things keep happening, like Hayley seeing John's face everywhere and the vodka in his boss's photos...and soon Hayley is swept up in an adventure, because Annie does not believe John is dead. But it will take more than just two women to bring John home.
I liked the book, but Hayley seemed very flat. You couldn't even see that she loved her brother. Annie was much more characterized, and I could feel for her so much more, but if she had been the main character I don't think I would have liked her so much because she was bossy and didn't seem to pay attention to what Hayley thought.
But it felt a lot like this was told to the author and he decided to give John a little sister and make Annie a secondary character. I think Annie could have been the main character if Cross had shown inside her head, her worry that John isn't coming home, her need to hope, her panic, and cut Hayley out, or if Hayley had been given more worries and feeling. All we know about Hayley by the end of the book is that she resents Annie's bossiness.
Hayley's brother John is dead, killed in Russia on one of his demolition jobs. Her mother has burned all his things and his friend Annie keeps calling. When Annie reveals that she is John's fiancee and decides to go to Russia to see where John died, Hayley decides to go too, to see the place and help Annie with her wheelchair. But odd things keep happening, like Hayley seeing John's face everywhere and the vodka in his boss's photos...and soon Hayley is swept up in an adventure, because Annie does not believe John is dead. But it will take more than just two women to bring John home.
I liked the book, but Hayley seemed very flat. You couldn't even see that she loved her brother. Annie was much more characterized, and I could feel for her so much more, but if she had been the main character I don't think I would have liked her so much because she was bossy and didn't seem to pay attention to what Hayley thought.
But it felt a lot like this was told to the author and he decided to give John a little sister and make Annie a secondary character. I think Annie could have been the main character if Cross had shown inside her head, her worry that John isn't coming home, her need to hope, her panic, and cut Hayley out, or if Hayley had been given more worries and feeling. All we know about Hayley by the end of the book is that she resents Annie's bossiness.
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