Now that I am back in the routine of reading daily, I have to say that I really did not realize how much I missed it until my reading sabbatical came to an end. I used to be an avid reader, however, after studying English in university and being expected to read a ridiculous number of books in a given week, I sort of lost my love for it. I stopped reading leisurely entirely until a few months ago, and my absence from books lasted a few years.
I’m just about finished reading Paul Blackwell’s Undercurrent, so I figure I’ll offer my own review of it before I start another novel and forget to share my thoughts on the former.
If I had to rate Undercurrent on a scale from one to ten, with one being shit and ten being perfection, I would give it a seven. In short, I found the plot to be brilliant, and the writing to be a wee bit lacklustre.
Undercurrent tells the story of Callum, or Cal, Harris, and it begins with Cal waking up in a hospital bed after barely surviving a treacherous trip over a waterfall. He struggles to recall most of what happened leading up to his fall initially, although, once flashes begin to come back to him as he starts to recover, he finds himself in what seems to be an entirely incorrect universe. Everything he did and was prior to his accident appears to now be the opposite, whether it be family, friends, school, sports, etc., and the more he tries to investigate the truth of this new supposed life, the more mysterious and concerning the situation becomes.
It’s classified as a thriller, and while it does keep your attention because of how juicy the plot is, I struggled to get through parts because of the bland writing. I do recommend it, though, because the story makes up for the script.
Photo by Masjid Pogung Dalangan on Unsplash
ontheedgeofeverything 