Welcome to the Platform Book Club! This is going to be our new weekly instalments of book reviews by our dedicated Book Club team. First up we have our own Editor in Chief Faith Pring giving us her review on True Believer by Nicholas Sparks.
Here’s the thing, I’m a Nicholas Sparks junkie. Anything he writes, I will read. I have watched his movie adaptations more times than I can count, and I’m slowly working my way through his extensive collection of novels…
True Believer was a charity shop find and a good one at that. Although originally published in 2005, it did not feel dated at all, and kept me captivated until the very last page.
The story centres around scientific journalist Jeremy Marsh – who is asked to travel to a small town in North Carolina to investigate the presence of mysterious lights in the town’s graveyard. Is it ghosts, a trick of sight or something more threatening?
Of course, it is a Nicholas Sparks novel so there’s always more romantic and family drama than the average book, and this is certainly no exception. Jeremy finds he is inexplicably drawn to library owner Lexie, who helps him discover the history of the case. Lexie initially stands her ground and refuses to have feelings for someone who is likely to disappear and travel back to New York – in a matter of days.
Despite liking both characters – Lexie and Jeremy – I found myself hoping that they wouldn’t end up together in the end, and that they would both travel in their opposite directions. Sparks manages to leave this element a mystery until the last couple of pages, but ultimately ends the story on a note that I saw coming right at the start of the book.
Arguably, that’s what Sparks does best. His books are predictable and follow a similar pattern, but it’s an algorithm that consistently works. Sparks has a talent for crafting believable characters, and this was no exception.
Admittedly, the romance between Jeremy and Lexie felt rushed, something that would have benefitted from an extra few days in the storyline. Regardless, their relationship was authentic enough to illicit the right emotions in the reader.
Some people say if you’ve read one Nicholas Sparks novel, you’ve read them all. The mystery elements in this one enables it to stand out ahead of his other books. I was intrigued and constantly questioning how the story would end, and left satisfied, if not slightly underwhelmed by the predictability of the ending.
Although it wasn’t his best novel, it probably wasn’t his worst either.
By Faith Pring
Feature image: From the desk of Jim R