Archives for May 2020

Winter of the Wolf by Martha Hunt Handler

WARNING THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW!!!

I’m so frustrated with this book! Winter of the Wolf was beautifully written and had me believing this would be a 4.5 star book for me. The writing starts out deep and thoughtful. The subject matter is beautifully handled and as someone who has suffered the loss of a loved one through suicide I appreciated that fact immensely. But then I hit the 85% complete mark and the book was close to ruined for me. It was as if the book was all of a sudden written by a different author and if not that then it just seemed like the author gave up and wanted a quick end. The depth was gone and I felt they almost made light of Sams death. All of the time and work Bean, her mother and Julie spent trying to find answers about the real reason for Sam’s death and we come to find out it was auto erotic asphyxiation. AEA is tragic in itself and I appreciate an author bringing attention to it but I felt it was completely out of sync with this book. And to have the family just seem to not care AT ALL that their son died in this manner was painful to read. They thought for 19 months that their son had died at his own hand, then learned that he accidentally killed himself instead and they all just accepted it instantly and happily. I would have been devastated if I’d found out my loved one had accidentally died, I wouldn’t just go hang out and have a meal as a family and pretend nothing changed. As a reader I became attached to these characters and felt their loss! That’s how well the first 85% was written but the last 15% made me feel I didn’t know these characters at all. I’m so disappointed. I will say I am sure my personal experiences with suicide caused my reaction to the end of this novel. I have spent years wondering what happened to my loved one and I bonded with Bean for her drive to try to find some answers because I can relate to that desire. I give this book a 2.5 because it had so much potential, however, with the casual acceptance of his death and the complete confusion of the last 15%, I can’t bare to give it a higher rating.