Divine Witness

Rating:
Summary: Reminds me of King, Laymon and McCammon
Review: I'd never heard of this guy before, but I went ahead and got the book anyway just because the cover looked cool (I know, I know). Needless to say, anytime you read an author for the first time you wonder if you wasted your money or not. I was pleasantly surprised by this book.

This is a mystery that reads more like a suspense book. It is fast paced with very little over indulgence by the writer. The scenes move quickly and most are quite exciting, making it a hard book to put down. He kind of writes like Richard Laymon with alot of dialogue and just enough description to let you picture each scene. There is no doubt I like this guy's style, but the thing that really stands out about this book are the characters. Within the first 30 pages or so you are already firmly attached to the main characters, two twelve year old boys who both have very unique personalities.

This is the only book of his I could find, and his website says its his first novel. Well, if this is first, I can't wait to read more! Not sure who the author most resembles, but when I read it I thought of Laymon, Stephen King's novella called The Body (better known as the movie Stand By Me), and Robert McCammon's Boys Life. Seek says on his website that King and McCammon are two of his biggest influences, so that's probably not surprising. Funny thing is I made the comparison before I ever visited his website.

Anyway, I definitely recommend this book to any fan of King, Laymon or McCammon. The only reason I didn't give it five stars is because I reserve that rating for only the very best like King's The Stand and McCammon's Swan Song.

Rating:
Summary: Divine Witness is Fun Reading
Review: Meet Nick Morrison and Trevor Devane. Nick and Trevor are pubescent twelve year olds, inseparable, fast friends for years from the town of Elk River Montana. They horse around, play tricks on each other, disparage each other in fun and are two thoroughly enjoyable characters.

One weekend in May, shortly before summer, the boys take a ride on their bikes to the Elk River. It seems the winter runoff that spring was severe, causing widespread flooding and tremendous damage and now that the flood waters have finally receded, our boys are off to explore the damage.

The flood caused extreme erosion of the river bank and our explorers discovered a partially exposed crate in the side of the bank. Unfortunately it was lodged rather high but our tenacious duo finally managed, after concerted efforts to pull a portion of the crate loose as they fell. What they discovered in the portion that came out with their fall both intrigued and revolted Nick and Trevor. There were some old hippie style clothes, some jewelry and bones and a SKULL. Human bones and skull. What have they found?

In addition to skeleton and clothes, they found a bracelet, which Trevor wanted to give to Wendy Buckwalter, a girl in his class that Trevor has a crush on and an old hippie headband. Since Trevor wants the bracelet, he insists that Nick keep the headband and places it upon Nick's head and when he does Nick suddenly feels very strange, "like he is being propelled through a vacuum of air at the speed of light", all of a sudden Nick finds himself in an automobile in the presence of a dark haired girl who trying to beat him off(no not that way). She finally breaks free and make a run for it and Nick chases after her, catches her and strikes her with his flashlight. At this point, Nick, wakes up to a bemused, scared Trevor. It seems Nick was in a trance and his nose even started to bleed. This went on until the headband, while Trevor was shaking him, was flung free.

Thus, begins an odyssey in which the boys, after reporting the body, first to their parents and then to the authorities, with the help of the miraculous headband, start a parallel investigation and eventually bring the lovely Wendy Buckwalter in the fold to help out. It seems there was a series of pretty young women disappearing, five in all, around 1975 none of which were ever found but there are those who notice the boys inquisitions. Those who would rather let sleeping dogs lie.

What follows is a period of harassment that began as a warning then brutality at the hands of the insufferable Sheriff's Deputy, Dwight. This pattern continues and escalates to a point where the boys and Wendy's very lives are in danger.

At this point the trio decide to carry on their investigation in a surreptitious manner but events start to move so fast and out of control that our heroes ultimately find themselves in what appears to be untenable situation.

Conclusion

The whole time I was reading Divine Witness I felt a familiarity with the writing style. Upon further examination I decided that our book has a similar writing style with J.K. Rowling. My wife, who is a Harry Potter fanatic agreed. There's nothing pretentious in the writing style, like say Dean Koontz, who's always trying to show you how smart he is and constantly going off on tangents and loosing the reader(though I like Koontz, I'm agonizing through one of his books right now).

Why I feel a similarity with Rowling's writing I'm not sure. Perhaps it's because the book moved right along, resisting the urge to get lost in details or maybe because it's written for the average person and with a paucity of four and five syllable words but most likely it's because the book seems to be directed toward a young audience.

No, Ryan Seek's book is for people, not readers. He brings Nick and Trevor, along with Wendy, to life and gives them substance. Nick's Donna Reed style homemaker mother and Trevors' tough no nonsense father also are likeable characters. Likewise it's hard not to despise the somewhat inept, dimwitted but thoroughly nasty antagonist, Deputy Dwight. I can picture a thirteen year old, with one caveat, (There is some playful bantering and other profanities) or a seventy year old or anyone in between reading and enjoying this book.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Once I picked up the book, I couldn't put it down. It had everything; suspense, drama, comedy, etc... My favorite part was the friendship between Nick and Trevor. Only in childhood can friends be so loyal to eachother through thick and thin. The characters and story were very believable and for once, I didn't know the outcome of the mystery until the end of the book. I can't wait to read more by this very talented writer.