Thank you to Henry Holt Books, #partner, for an advanced copy of Small Town Sins in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co
Published: August 1, 2023
Summary:
Ken Jaworowski’s Small Town Sins is a gripping Rust Belt thriller that captures the characters of a down-and-out Pennsylvania town, revealing their troubled pasts and the crimes that could cost them their lives.
In Locksburg, Pennsylvania, a former coal and steel town whose best days seem long past, five thousand residents have toughed it out, and have reasons for both worry and hope as this neglected place teeters between decay and renewal. For some of them, their biggest troubles have just arrived.
After years of just scraping by, three restless souls have their lives upended: Nathan, a volunteer fireman who uncovers a secret stash of money in a burning building and takes it; Callie, a nurse whose tender patient may not have long to live, despite the girl’s fundamentalist parents’ ardent beliefs; and Andy, a recovering heroin addict who undertakes a nightmare mission to hunt down and stop a serial predator.
Before long, Nathan’s stolen riches threaten to destroy everyone around him as he tries to cover his haphazard trail of lies. Callie risks her career to grant her young patient a final, and likely illegal, wish. And Andy’s hunger for vigilante justice becomes a fierce obsession that may end in violence.
As their stories barrel toward unexpected ends, Nathan, Callie, and Andy struggle to endure—or escape. They each face their pasts and gamble on their futures, and confront the underside of their rough Rust Belt town. Riveting, evocative, and unforgettable, Small Town Sins is a debut novel that marks the arrival of a major new talent.
My thoughts:
I love books set in small towns, maybe because I have always lived in small towns myself so when I saw this one, I immediately requested it. The fact that it is a debut novel blows my mind because this one was fantastic! It’s powerful and tugs at those heartstrings but man is it good!
This story is one of those immersive reads where you really become invested with the main characters. You might not always agree with the choices they make – and believe me, they make some crazy ones at times – but the way this is written, these characters make their way into your soul and you will be hard-pressed to think of anything else you until reach the end. Even now, days after I have finished reading this, I am still thinking of Nathan, Callie and Andy and all that they went through in this novel. It’s not a long book by any means, coming in at under 300 pages, but boy does it grip you and get under your skin. The circumstances each of these three characters find themselves in are dark and quite depressing, and yet I could not stop reading. I had to see where it was all leading to.
There are some heavy themes that are woven into this book – poverty, crime, family, illness, addiction and recovery, to name a few. Each character has their own burden to bear and try as they might to get ahead, it seems that there are obstacles in their way that seem too insurmountable to overcome. But there is always that possibility of hope on the horizon.
I cannot recommend this book enough. I’m so glad I took a chance on it and will be singing its praises to anyone who will listen!
