The Ferryman
By Justin Cronin
2 Book Lovers Reviews
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Whenever I say the name of this book I want to break into song and not pay him, I’ve been told that I shouldn’t even set a price. But this ferryman has more in common with Charon than a Chris de Burgh song.
Justin Cronin is a master at creating worlds within worlds and stories that span lifetimes. It’s just fiction, why give it limits? In The Ferryman, Cronin has created a fantastic world filled with fabulous characters. Proctor Bennett is the glue that holds all of this together. The bulk of the story is told from Bennett’s perspective, with a little filler coming from the supporting cast. We don’t know more than Bennett. The truth is out there, and we will find it, but only when Bennett does.
It is a story with multiple plotlines, secrets, and some really nasty characters that I loved to hate. It is a story that makes the reader take a long hard look at privilege, class structure, and has an awesome twist that was completely unexpected that ties everything together. Cronin puts a lot of thought into his story-building, it must start with an idea, then other ideas get embedded into the main story, masking the original until the great reveal. Sometimes there is nothing better than a story that gets to say, “Gotcha!”
I really enjoyed my time in Prospera, but I may have had my expectations set too high. While an inventive, well-presented story, The Ferryman is not up there with The Passage; then again, The Passage was roughly 50% longer than The Ferryman. More time to develop more story. I wanted a story to blow my socks off, and The Ferryman wasn’t quite there.
*4 Stars
2 Book Lovers Reviews
2 Book Lovers Reviews