You Came Back

A Novel

De: Christopher Coake

Narrado por: Scott Holst

Thirty-something Midwesterner Mark Fife believes he has successfully moved past the accidental death of his young son, Brendan, as well as his subsequent divorce from his college sweetheart, Chloe. He's successful, he's in love again, and he believes he's mastered his own memories.

But then he is contacted by a strange woman who tells him not only that she owns his old house, but that she believes it to be haunted by Brendan's ghost. Will Mark - who does not believe in ghosts - come to accept the mounting evidence that Brendan's is real? Will his engagement to his new love Allison be threatened by the reappearance of Chloe, who does believe? If the ghost is real, what can these two wounded parents do to help their son?

You Came Back examines the beauty and danger of belief in all its forms - not only belief in the supernatural, but in the love that binds parents and children, husbands and wives.

©2012 Christopher Coake (P)2012 Hachette

Good story, but not great

Would you listen to You Came Back again? Why?

This was a decent story, but somewhat predictable, and I struggled to like the main character. He describes himself as struggling to not be a sissy (not the exact word, but you get the meaning), and throughout the story I kept thinking to myself Yup, he sure is. That made it difficult to connect with him. Several of the other characters were great, and helped to move the story forward, especially his father.

Have you listened to any of Scott Holst’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The reading was excellent. I've listened to other stories read by Scott Holst, and they are universally easy to understand and not prone to "over-acting" which is one of the things that drives me crazy about some readers. Scott did a good job of giving subtle differences to the characters voices so you can easily distinguish who is speaking. His pacing is perfect for this story.

Any additional comments?

All in all, it was worth reading, but I won't listen to it again. Excellent job by the reader, Mr. Holst.

DISAPPOINTED - Extremely

Highly disappointed. This book just left me absolutely cold. Well, not absolutely cold – there’s enough heat from the disappointment in my wasted credit. Trite, unimaginative and just plain pathetic. The main character has absolutely no redeeming qualities all the way to the very end and the author makes the girlfriend out to be some pathetic woman just needing her baby’s daddy regardless of his worthless heart – and that is pretty much the summation of the entire book – a bunch of weak women and cheating, lying, conniving men. No – I’m not a man basher, not at all – I was rooting for him and hoping it was going to turn around but no, his very last action in his own words “another lie.”

Blah

Would you try another book from Christopher Coake and/or Scott Holst?

Not without reading reviews first

What was most disappointing about Christopher Coake’s story?

The story took a different direction from what I expected and as it unfolded I cared less and less about the characters involved in the tale.

How could the performance have been better?

I had no issue with the performance by Scot Hoist. It was the story he told.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I was surprised I actually finished it.