Literature Review: The Reach by Nate Kenyon
Posted by pete in Literature, News, Reviews on November 28th, 2008
“Young Sarah is no ordinary girl. She’s been diagnosed as schizophrenic and locked away in a children’s psychiatric ward. But that’s not what makes her special. She also has a very strange—and powerful—gift. Scientists have been studying Sarah’s remarkable psychic power for years, enhancing it, manipulating it…twisting it into something evil. But their plans have gone horribly wrong. How much longer can they control Sarah? And what will happen if her powers are unleashed?”
I was introduced to Nate Kenyon’s fiction with his first book Bloodstone. It was his first novel and I thought it was exceptional. I would not have thought it was a first novel if I did not know that before hand. Nate relies on old fashioned terror and not the explicit gore that is so prevalent today, I was extremely happy with that.
His second book The Reach again published by Dorchester Publishing hit stores on November 25th.
I was not expecting much when I first picked up the book. Young girl with powers, scientists studying and using her for their own purpose etc. It’s been done before but I was in for quite a surprise.
The book starts out with a simple enough storyline about a young girl (Sarah) locked up in a children’s psychiatry ward as a diagnosed schizophrenic. A pyschology student (Jess) is asked by her professor to see if Jess can reach Sara so she can be helped. Simple enough, but this is where it really gets good.
Sarah also has a power that has kept her locked up in there for years, the guinea pig for experiments to harness and develop her powers.
Kenyon’s writing is superb and fast paced. He leads you through the suffering of the little girl with a realism that makes you want to help her too. He also manages to throw in some twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. He combines supernatural horror with science seamlessly, which I feel shows the amount of research he must have done for this book.
His characters are well thought out and developed. His writing style is believable, with a great sense of suspense that builds throughout the book until the final few chapters. This is where Kenyon shines.
The ending of this book is fantastic and powerful. In fact I went back and read the last few chapters twice, it left me breathless. One of the best endings of a book I have read in a long time.
He also leaves it where he might just revisit these characters in the future. I certainly hope he does.
If you love tense, suspensful, well written stories with apocalyptic endings this book is for you and is highly recommended by this reader.
