The Book of Sonny

Sonny is not loving life. His wife is distant, his children are estranged, and the only love he gets is from the family dog. When terrible things start happening to everyone he loves and their lives are put on the line, he does everything he can out of desperation to keep them close.  Incredibly, he receives visitors - first Satan and then God to explain what he can do to stop it. But will he be too late?

This book reads like a journal of a man who is going through a sad and lonely life while trying to find some meaning. As we get closer to the main plot and realize this is a Job-like analogy, events start to make more sense, but it is difficult to understand where the story is going before that. The dialogue is stilted in places, but sometimes humorous, although there are times when it is hard to tell who is speaking. There also aren't enough setting anchors to ground the reader in the scene, which make it hard to follow the story in some places. In spite of that, the author writes emotion very well, and the scenes that feature Sonny and his dog are sweet and will tug on the reader’s heart. There is an inspirational message that is explained in the final chapters, and the happy ending makes the story memorable.

Kate Campbell