As I have mentioned, Minnesota is my favorite state. And Duluth is a beautiful city. I love driving across this bridge and entering my favorite state!
The setting is just one of the reasons why I love the Johnathan Stride books. Another reason is that Brian Freeman is just a darn great author. Darn great. Darn great.
I love the character of Stride. How he and his wife, Serena, have shown such grace toward one another during their sometimes rocky relationship. They are both human. And I love how they love and accept one another's humanness.
One of the best lines in this book, which I can't remember totally because I bought the audio, is from Stride, talking to an FBI agent who has made a serious and deadly mistake, but an honest one. He says something like, "Does being a part of the FBI mean you have to perfect" or something like that! Jonathan is just such a good man.
The really scary thing about this book is that it shows the reality that hate breeds hate and violence breeds violence and technology (in this case, social media) can really be used in thoughtless and also malicious ways that can lead to horrible, horrible hate and violence.
Like the Boston bombing, someone has set a bomb off at the end of the Duluth Marathon, which I guess doesn't really exist, but is a combo marathon with Superior, WI.
The aftermath is just a horrible snowball of hate rolling and destroying lives. And this can happen and it does happen. And that is what made this book a horror story, but so sadly, one that really happens. A cautionary tale, but not preachy. With an ending that will take your breath away. Fantastic on so many levels.
What's Going On Here?
There are SO MANY wonderful book review blogs out there and I can't compete with them, that is for sure. So this is not a book review blog. This is just a way for me to organize what I have read so that I can be better at matching the right book to the right person. The blog title comes from the brilliant mind of the most talented woman who ever lived, Ms. Judy Garland. The full quote is, "Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of someone else." That is what I hope to do here and in ever aspect of my life.
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