Literary Scene

By Ryan G. Van Cleave

Looking for a book to throw into your beach bag? Look no further! This month, Ryan reviews three beach-read-worthy novels

Send Down the Rain
by Charles Martin

Jacksonville author Charles Martin’s latest novel is a big-hearted love story centering around the life of Joseph Burns, a 62-year-old Vietnam vet who won’t talk about the special ops tours of his youth. He hides from the world in a remote North Carolina cabin when he runs across two children and a mother—illegal immigrants—fleeing a Mexican drug lord. Good guy Joseph takes care of the bad guy and then helps the woman search for her brother in Florida. book book book book book book book 

This brings back a flood of emotions since Joseph’s childhood love, Allie, lives in Florida, too. She married Joseph’s estranged brother and has since gotten divorced. When she encounters her own tragedy, Joseph is compelled to help, leading to a bittersweet reunion.

At the story’s center lies this question: What does it mean—and what level of sacrifice does it take—to truly love someone? book book book book book book book  book book book book book book book 

“When I wrote my first New York Times bestseller,” says Martin, “I was ten years married and telling my wife that I loved her, but a part of me was still questioning what that actually meant or looked like in practice. A decade later, Send Down the Rain goes deeper into the question of what it really, truly means to love someone forever.” Then he adds: “I won’t say it’s my best book, but I will say that I’ve never written anything better.”

Martin’s latest effort is first-rate. It’s full of grace and beauty and redemption. And like his novel The Mountain Between Us, which was released as a major motion picture in 2017 starring Kate Winslet and Idris Elba, this one, too, seems tailor-made for the big screen.

Rating: 4.75 out of 5 
CharlesMartinBooks.com

Somebody’s Daughter
by Rochelle B. Weinstein

Somebody’s Daughter, the fourth novel by Miami writer and former entertainment industry executive Rochelle B. Weinstein, examines young love in the digital age. Emma and Bobby Ross seem to have it all. A Miami Beach home. A successful business. Lovely twin daughters, Zoe and Lily. The respect from their community.

Then on the night of the twins’ fifteenth birthday party, a private indiscretion with Zoe and a classmate goes public in the worst way possible. Then the entire family suffers the nightmare scenario that every single parent today worries about, thanks to the reality of living in a world where, at the touch of a button, your livelihood and reputation can be destroyed. Worse, Emma’s got her own secret from a time long before the digital age, and her own daughter’s plight might make her own mistakes public, too.

This timely book is sure to create useful family conversations. It’s not Nicholas Sparks sweet, but perhaps that’s a good thing.

Rating: 4 out of 5 
RochelleWeinstein.com

Broken Ground: A Jay Porter Novel
by Joe Clifford

In this novel, the fourth in the series, handyman and part-time investigator Jay Porter is asked by a recovering addict, Amy Lupus, to find her MIA younger sister, Emily. She hasn’t been seen since being dropped off at the Coos County Center rehab facility, run by Porter’s nemeses Adam and Michael Lombardi. The more Porter looks into things, the more it seems that newspaper intern Emily didn’t use drugs and was instead doing some investigative journalism on the Center that might have turned up something sinister. Porter can’t help himself—sure he wants to find the girl, but he also wants to stick it to Adam and Michael, who clearly deserve whatever bad karma the world has in store for them.

It’s kind of refreshing for a protagonist to be anything but a person out for personal redemption.

Let’s be clear. Porter IS an interesting main character. This ex-insurance claims agent, ex-boozer, and ex-husband meets Amy at an AA meeting, which he attends because he’s trying to keep his own life clean and sober. For once. Plus he suffers from panic attacks that seem appropriate for such a damaged soul as well as the teeth-chattering cold of a Northeastern winter. He’s also got a gruff, no-nonsense voice that’s gritty in all the right ways, though it definitely moves this into the adult language category.

The ending isn’t especially shocking, but the character study of Porter and the unflinching look at the world of addiction is worth exploring.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 
JoeClifford.com

For more of Ryan’s book reviews, visit our other installments of The Literary Scene.