Chamberlain's newest novel opens with a litany of questions. Set in the PT ward of a hospital in 1965, a student nurse is assigned to a difficult patient who is suffering from a broken ankle and is suspected of having attempted suicide. Although the patient has avoided interaction with anyone else, he personally requests this specific nurse and goes on to engage with her and even follow her therapy instructions. He claims it's because the nurse reminds him of someone he once knew, but the questions build: Who does the nurse remind him of? Why is he willing to do anything for this nurse just because she resembles someone in his past?
Readers quickly learn that the patient has been unresponsive because he lost someone close to him... But that just raises more questions: Who died and why did the death affect him so deeply?
As if those questions weren't enough to get readers engaged, the patient starts singing along with a brand-new Beatles release on the radio--a song no one could have known without having been to England, which he claims he hasn't. The chapter ends with readers asking themselves yet another question: "How does he know this song?"
I've read just the opening chapter of Chamberlain's newest book, but the questions posed have me engaged. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the novel to find out the answers.
Readers quickly learn that the patient has been unresponsive because he lost someone close to him... But that just raises more questions: Who died and why did the death affect him so deeply?
As if those questions weren't enough to get readers engaged, the patient starts singing along with a brand-new Beatles release on the radio--a song no one could have known without having been to England, which he claims he hasn't. The chapter ends with readers asking themselves yet another question: "How does he know this song?"
I've read just the opening chapter of Chamberlain's newest book, but the questions posed have me engaged. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the novel to find out the answers.