Engrossed in story

7/13/2015 FlaxFlower reviews - 

A Step Too Far 

by Peter Thomas

 

 When I picked up this book and perused it I was struck by the cover photo and the idea of a novel set in New Zealand.

    The blurb was equally intriguing and I had to read it a few times to get an inkling of what it was about. As the story unfolded and I reread the back cover I began to get glimpses into the story.

  It wasn’t long before I became utterly engrossed in the story and found myself becoming impatient to find out how it ends.

  The story involves a young woman who, for the best of reasons, becomes a people smuggler, and it wasn’t hard to feel some sympathy for her involvement and actions. At one stage it seems to wander off in another direction, but both her thoughts and adventures are loosely woven together and come together quite nicely at the end.

    Throughout the story there were comments such as “But that explanation comes later.” I found these rather disconcerting as it stopped the flow of the story but I also came across some gems, one of which I read 2-3 times and marvelled at its brilliance.

  I quote: “I guess my memories are a bit like river water. They start as random drips on some misty mountain-side. In my early days it gathered into rivulets and streams that chuckled unconcerned between lichen covered rocks. Then within the deep sided gorges of my teenage years I rode the rapids and explored forbidden tributaries and as a result I’ve had to build beaver dams in an attempt to hold back a possible deluge from those treacherous side creeks. Perhaps in married middle age there will be no more wild water and my mind will be content to meander across the valley floor in peaceful meadow land between well defined and rounded hills.”
   Such pieces of prose made reading this book a joy.

   There is a follow up story, The Dancing Gypsy, and I look forward to one day reading it.

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Review by Merilyn Mary

Title: A Step Too Far
Author: Peter Thomas
Publisher: Good Hope Publishing House
ISBN: 978-0-9941188-0-6
Available: bookshops or directly from Good Hope Publishing House
PO Box 596 Picton, 7250; goodhope@clear.net.nz