The Gray Line

Reading through this book brought me plenty of emotions. Let me explain. I first purchased this book in October of 2022. By this time my father had already started to feel the crippling pain of end stage cancer. While I ordered it, and started it, I was unable emotionally to comprehend or even process this books main theme, as grief was exactly what I was feeling watching the cancer take my dads mind, body and eventually his soul. On November 13th, at 4am, my mom called me to tell me that my dad had finally taken his last breath. Any hopes of sitting and getting through this book were dashed that day. And for a whole year I struggled with any kind of activity that took longer than a few hours to accomplish. Heck, my kid brought me short stories to read that I couldn’t even get through. Now, having known BJ from childhood, finally reconnecting with her last year I had access to her announcement that her book was finally in audio form. That day I downloaded it and started it. I finished it within 2 weeks, something that if you know me, is a great accomplishment and I’m incredibly proud of! I can relate to various topics in this book, grief, missing person, murder, all those are things that I have dealt with first hand in my life. Also having known BJ in our youth, I can absolutely see her in the characters. It’s fun to pin-point and identify what part of BJ is where, and while it’s absolutely not clear cut, that was incredibly entertaining. If there is any critique to give this book, I would say there is an element of Mary Sue in the main protagonist, however this is not something that I would say has killed the book for me. I look forward to hearing her next book, Shadow Resistance, and have my eyes peeled for when she announces that it is available in audiobook!