Thursday, January 7, 2021

Book Review: Primal Calling

It really feels like Friday, you guys. I can't say I'm on the struggle bus because I really do feel like I've gotten a lot done this week and I still feel really on top of life and like my new organized system is working so I really hope I can keep this up all year. 

Primal Calling - Barry Eisenberg

While rummaging through the attic, high school senior, Jack Davies, is surprised to find his never-before-seen birth certificate, revealing a startling bit of information that changes his life. The story his mother told about his birth, he discovers, is revealed to be a lie, shattering long-held beliefs and the trust he had for her. Jack becomes obsessed with discovering the truth, leading him down a dangerous path. Faced with unanswered questions and confounding obstacles at every turn, Jack finds himself deeply enmeshed in an intricate world of national security and international intrigue. Relationships are tested as his every move is tracked by a group of mysterious people. Who are they? Whose side are they on? Who can he trust? And, most importantly, who will he ultimately become?
What a cool book. This book had a little bit of everything, a little bit of coming-of-age for Jack, a little lost love kind of thing, a little thriller, a little secret national security operations, it was just a whole lot of stuff, easily packed into one book. I easily finished this one in a day because each chapter is fairly short but written in a way that you keep telling yourself you're going to just read one more. 

In this book we have Jack, a high school student who inadvertently discovers that his mother has kept the identity of his father a secret his whole life. With that newly discovered information, Jack goes on a fairly improbable search for his father. I say improbable because there is next to no chance you could do this search yourself and yield anywhere near the amount of information Jack was able to get, but I had to keep reminding myself this is all make believe so we need to let that go. The path Jack is then set on has him in precarious situations, meeting a whole slew of characters (at one point it felt like the author was juggling a few too many but it worked out in the end), and learning about the pretty bizarre life of his father. I mean, from the first incident early on in the book you knew this was going to be quite a ride. 

I felt like the buildup to the end was the strongest part of the book and the ending felt a little flat for me. I'm not really sure what I needed from the ending it just felt like this wasn't the right one for this book. It also had a whole lot of politics and the inner workings of the oil industry and I kind of don't care about that so it started to lose me there but if you gloss over that, it becomes manageable. 

I really liked Jack and I appreciated his determination in the search for his father, even when things were getting far beyond his control. His simple search unraveled a huge ball of yarn that affected a whole lot more than his interested in getting to know dad. I really liked how the author was able to take this easy task and turn it into an actual mountain. Overall I'd give this one 3 stars, I liked it. I thought it was a great first novel for this author and I'd be interested in seeing what he does next. 

Thank you to FSB Associates and Vanguard Press for sending me a complimentary copy and including me on this tour. 

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1 comment:

Why Girls Are Weird said...

This is an awesome review Sara, adding it to my TBR list!