Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Ordinary Grace is a novel that tells the story of a young boy, Frank Drum, who is coming-of-age in 1961. During the summer of '61, Frank and his younger brother, Jake, learned the hard truths about death in various forms: accidental, natural, suicide, and murder. Frank was 13 years old during this time and the story is told from his point of view. Yes, the book is written in first person (you all know how I feel about that) and it worked. The way the author, William Kent Krueger, wrote the story made you feel as if you were sitting in your living room having a conversation with Frank about his summer. The author wrote with wonderful imagery throughout the novel and the reader felt as if he was right there feeling the breeze on their face or smelling the river. The story keeps the reader engaged with Frank and Jake's antics that wound up placing them in precarious positions and involving them knee deep in the active investigations. Frank's father, Nathan, is a preacher, and throughout the novel the reader learns about what ordinary grace is from the way he handles every situation, no matter how bad, in life to how he drew strength from his faith in God. The characters in the story are well developed and have unique personalities that are relatable. From past loves to current loves to love lost, each person in the book handle each situation differently. Some shut down, others got angry, and some just crumbled under the loss and fear. From cover to cover, the reader will want to keep on this journey no matter how heart-wrenching it may be. William Kent Krueger wrote the novel so that no one can really figure out the mystery of who-dun-it until the very end.