War Changes People

filled star filled star filled star filled star filled star
naturegracereader Avatar

By

4.5* stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an audio copy to read in exchange for an honest review

Not a book about the Vietnam war and the battles fought in it but about the boys who became men when they returned and the ones who feared the draft that would send them into the War. Gibby doesn’t fear the draft like his best friend does. He had a brother die in the war and another who volunteered to serve. But when his brother finally returned home after a dishonorable discharge his parents don’t want him around his brother. He had been doing drugs and got himself put into prison. They don’t trust Jason and believe he will only cause harm to the only good son they have left. This electrifying novel tells a story of what happens when Gibby does see his brother and what happens if his parents were right.

I absolutely loved this book. I finished it within two days and was hooked onto every word. I like that this story had the background of the Vietnam war. It provided a backstory that drove a lot of the tension within the story, but it’s mainly about the person Jason has become after and the people he has got himself entangled with because of the path he had chosen.

There is so much in this book that gives it the thrill genre. A lot of it is pretty dark but that’s what kept this book so entertaining. It’s truly like no other book I have read before. Through the book you are gaining more and more insight into Jason’s life and the people who are after him. If this book was simply about Jason it would not have been as good of a book, but it was also about some pretty bad people and the innerworkings of a dangerous criminal and how he uses the corrupt cops inside the prisons his in to do his dirty work. This criminal does all he can to ruin the life of Jason and to get exactly what he wants, get Jason back into prison. He frames Jason with murder and frames Gibby as well. There are many different agenda’s that different gangs have. Gibby gets himself tied into a lot of messes as he tried to discover the truth about his brother’s past. All I can say is I was never bored.

I listened to the audio version of this book and I liked and disliked the reading. The readers voice was smooth and got me engaged into the story. The book was narrated by one man, but he did good changing his voice to the characters who was talking. One thing that got me confused a few times is the mount of times the perspective changes. The book is written in first person by Gibby’s point of view but most of the other character have third person limited sections in the book. I liked this from a story point of view because it always was changing the story up. This helped me not to get bored of just one person problems or perspective. It was always going from person to person at the best times so you can read about all the thrilling moments. I did really like all the perspectives, but with the audio version it was hard to tell when this shift was made. So, all the sudden it would be on one person and then switch to another. There was no indication this shift was made so the only way to realize it was when you were suddenly hearing different names or a different situation then you were just reading about. I’m sure there was some type of marker in the physical book to mark this change, but it was hard to indicate in the audio. This wasn’t a big challenge for me because I was able to pick it up soon after because there was some indication in the words but if I wasn’t paying attention, I might get lost.

I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. It’s not one specific thing but just the overall enjoyment of the book. It’s nothing overly special I just think it was really well written and developed. All the characters had their own personality and you got attached to all of the different plot points. And I really like how it ended. All I can say is that it came full circle. I would recommend if you can handle some gruesome details, but it was a unique read.

Trigger Warning: Drinking, War, Details of a bloody murder, Abuse of women, and Kidnapping.