Romantic Road

Lacy Telchev has just buried her husband, author Igor, when she is suddenly thrust into a world far removed from her safe existence. As she uncovers the truth about her Igor and his mysterious manuscript, Lacy realizes that she may not have known her husband after all.

The story started well but seemed to fizzle out in the middle. The suspense that should have started to arc through the story was interspersed with more attention to the setting of the story, giving one a sense of the setting being ‘divorced’ from the story instead of adding to it. It did not read as though there was a sense of urgency to get away from the people after Lacy: ‘urgency’ being the operative word. The romantic arc seemed muddled by the character's concern for her clothes throughout the story and there didn’t appear to be enough spark between Lacy and Max.

If the intent was to show Lacy as a person conflicted about her feelings for her late husband and her new love interest, a deeper introspection could have been done. The push and pull of the attraction between the protagonists could have been tighter. At the very least, a thriller should be a page turner, and, at most an edge-of-one’s-seat story. Tighter dialogue, a deeper exploration of the characters' internal conflict, and associating the setting with something memorable to the character would have made this a more engaging read.

M.P. Ceja