The Ferryman

I loved the idea of this book, and it even started out strongly. The prologue was a great attention grabber. Then we meet Proctor and go through a handful of chapters getting to know him and connecting with him through his first person narrative.

And then ... 3 or 4 chapters in, that all slams to a halt so we can meet Thea in a third person narrative chapter. It's jarring and unnecessary, and spoils something that would have been better as a twist.

Back to first person Proctor chapters for a bit then, bam, more new characters, also in third person narrative. Why? Why do we need any of these narratives not directly affecting Proctor in the moment and, even if they are going to, why not let that come as a shocking reveal instead?

I tried very hard to ignore this because I liked the Proctor chapters, but even those quickly got irritating when things were forced into place (when his wife leaves) just so the narrative can go the way the author wants. Along with that and the rising number of new characters being given sudden third person chapters for apparently no reason, this ended up being a DNF around 40%.

VERY good dystopian thriller that certainly did not end the way I thought it would. Great world-building, character development, and pacing really hooked me and kept me invested. I had a hard time putting this one down!