Review: A World I Never Made

A World I Never Made

James LePore

Series or Stand Alone: Stand Alone

Release Date: April 2009

Publisher: The Story Plant

Pages: 262

Author Site: http://jamesleporefiction.com/

My Rating: 4.5/5

Source: Received for blog tour from Pump Up Your Book

Synopsis:

[from goodreads.com]

Pat Nolan, an American man, is summoned to Paris to claim the body of his estranged daughter Megan, who has committed suicide. The body, however, is not Megan's and it becomes instantly clear to Pat that Megan staged this, that she is in serious trouble, and that she is calling to him for help.

This sends Pat on an odyssey that stretches across France and into the Czech Republic and that makes him the target of both the French police and a band of international terrorists. Joining Pat on his search is Catherine Laurence, a beautiful but tormented Paris detective who sees in Pat something she never thought she'd find-genuine passion and desperate need. As they look for Megan, they come closer to each other's souls and discover love when both had long given up on it.

Juxtaposed against this story is Megan's story. A freelance journalist, Megan is in Morocco to do research when she meets Abdel Lahani, a Saudi businessman. They begin a torrid affair, a game Megan has played often and well in her adult life. But what she discovers about Lahani puts her in the center of a different kind of game, one with rules she can barely comprehend. Because of her relationship with Lahani, Megan has made some considerable enemies. And she has put the lives of many-maybe even millions-at risk.

A World I Never Made is an atmospheric novel of suspense with brilliantly drawn characters and back-stories as compelling as the plot itself. It is the kind of novel that resonates deeply and leaves its traces long after you turn the final page.

Review:

I like reading suspenseful books but I wouldn’t consider the suspense genre a favorite of mine. Still there are times when I come across a suspense novel that I enjoy a lot more than I thought I would. After reading the synopsis of A World I Never Made I felt I’d have a pretty decent reading experience. But it wasn’t long after I actually started the book that I got sucked into the story. The premise of the story is what first got my attention. Pat Nolan is sent to claim the body of his daughter after he finds out she has committed suicide. Despite the fact that Pat and Megan aren’t really on speaking terms doesn’t stop him from traveling to France. However, he immediately knows the body doesn’t belong to his daughter. And he also knows that Megan needs is in a lot of trouble and needs help from the clues she leaves in her suicide note. So Pat lies to the police and tells them that the body is in fact Megan.

I feel the synopsis is a perfect description of the novel so I’m not going to sit here and summarize the book. It would be quite boring for everyone. Instead let’s discuss the characters. It was easy to like Pat despite the fact that he’s basically a horrible father. He alienated Megan as a child and didn’t do a good job of staying in her adult life. The two would spend every Christmas together but it they were never close. After Pat sets out to find Megan he soon discovers how much his daughter means to him and the lengths he’s willing to go to find her.

Not to say Megan is the perfect daughter. Yes, she was the victim as a child; always alone and waiting for her father to return on from his business trips. I hardly blame her for not being close to Pat. But she’s somewhat of an abuser herself. She uses her both her beauty and brains to seduce men to give her whatever she wants. And that behavior is what gets her in trouble with her latest pawn. Abdel Lahani is a predator himself but a handsome, smooth-talking, successful one. It doesn’t take Megan long to realize the mistake she’s made. Like I mentioned before, Megan is very smart. The choices she makes aren’t so smart though and this last decision puts a lot of people in danger.

I really liked Catherine. I felt the romance between her and Pat went very well with the story. I was worried their relationship would feel like a random throw in or wouldn’t make sense but I enjoyed watching them come together. Both Pat and Catherine are wounded souls and I was glad they were able to find each other in such a crazy time in each of their lives.

In my opinion the story just kept getting better and better. I mean the suspense was there and the action that came along with the story really had me turning those pages. Terrorist plots and traveling across countries isn’t really a big turn on for me but it really worked for me this time around. But it was the characters and the way the story flowed through Megan and Pat’s stories that made the novel stand out. I basically just enjoyed how well the story was written and how easily I could get lost in the plot. A World I Never Made surprised me and I’m looking forward to reading more of LePore’s work.

P.S. (cover talk)

The hardcover is very simple with large, bold font. However, I think it’s the title that grabs my attention more than the cover. I’ve seen the paperback version and I like it a lot better than the hardcover.