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A review by jdsatori
Castle by J. Robert Lennon
2.0
Spoilers!
The premise of this story is solid: an abused child returns to his hometown to get revenge on his abuser. Everything else stumbles along. The timing, for instance, is off. The first third of the book is spent watching the main character's home renovation. He "discovers" a strange, giant rock in his vast acreage of woods. He "discovers" the fact that, in the center of his acreage, someone mysterious owns a plot. He "discovers" a castle on that mysterious plot. Lo and behold, the castle and the plot are owned by his former abuser. If we're supposed to think that the main character has amnesia or PTSD (he's an Iraqi war vet, we're finally told, in the last 50 pages), it was not at all clear. Motive -- at least one of them -- should come a bit closer to the beginning of the story, not as it's wrapping up.
Also, the main character's tone was off. He snaps at people, but we don't know why this guy who's just renovating an old farm house is so bitchy. His language was stiff and formal, and felt out of place.
I kept reading to see how things ended, but even there, there were things I felt the author assumed we would figure out. I can assume, but I wanted to know. Oh, well.
The premise of this story is solid: an abused child returns to his hometown to get revenge on his abuser. Everything else stumbles along. The timing, for instance, is off. The first third of the book is spent watching the main character's home renovation. He "discovers" a strange, giant rock in his vast acreage of woods. He "discovers" the fact that, in the center of his acreage, someone mysterious owns a plot. He "discovers" a castle on that mysterious plot. Lo and behold, the castle and the plot are owned by his former abuser. If we're supposed to think that the main character has amnesia or PTSD (he's an Iraqi war vet, we're finally told, in the last 50 pages), it was not at all clear. Motive -- at least one of them -- should come a bit closer to the beginning of the story, not as it's wrapping up.
Also, the main character's tone was off. He snaps at people, but we don't know why this guy who's just renovating an old farm house is so bitchy. His language was stiff and formal, and felt out of place.
I kept reading to see how things ended, but even there, there were things I felt the author assumed we would figure out. I can assume, but I wanted to know. Oh, well.