📷 Clear Confusion 📷 (2019) - Book Review
MY REVIEW
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Emerald House Group,
Incorporated (June 30, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1620209020
ISBN-13: 978-1620209028
“What am I going to do, God? Who am I?
Charlotte
Hallaway needs to come to terms with her father's death. He had been her only
family, and she wasn't handling her grief well. It was just supposed to be a
few weeks of peace and quiet to process it all, but then she saw them-a drug
deal and a murder within seconds of each other.
And they
saw her.
Now
running for her life, Charlotte boards a bus to escape her pursuers and wakes
up the next morning in the woods of Jennings, Georgia, without a memory of how
she got there or of who she is. All she knows is an underlying fear she can't
seem to shake.
When two
hunters find her battered and scared, can she put aside the clear confusion
she's experiencing to trust them? She wants to trust them, especially Nicholas,
but fear is holding her back. Trust is incredibly hard when one is so clearly
confused. Could it be he and his friend are not who they claim to be?
Who are they really . . . and who is she?”
Thank you in advance to JustRead Tours and Ambassador International for this copy to voluntarily review. A positive review was not required, all thoughts are my own.
“Clear Confusion” is a
Christian, contemporary, romantic-suspense novel by Kathy M. Howard.
The story centers
on Charlotte Halloway who recently lost her father. Due to the fact he was her
only family and she wasn’t handling her grief well, she was on a bus trip to
clear her mind and take some time to process everything. That was until a bus
stop that led her to being a witness to a drug deal and murder. She then wakes
up in the woods of Jennings, Georgia with no memory of how she got there or who
she is. And, she doesn’t remember the crime she was a witness to either.
Charlotte is found by
hunters Nicholas Nelson and his friend Vincent Cobb. It is Nicholas, along with
his sister Nellie, who takes her in while she works on getting her memory back
and to recover from some sort of “accident” she doesn’t remember. As Charlotte
doesn’t know her real name, she adopts the name “Sydney”. This proves a tad
problematic later on in conversations and identifying the characters in a
scene.
As Charlotte struggles to
remember her name and what happened, the Nelson family is struck by tragedy. It
is at that time that Sydney/Charlotte is told, rather than learns, what
happened about the murder and drug deal. She suddenly remembers her real name
and contacts the police who already know what is going on.
Charlotte is asked to
stay in Jennings – not only for her safety, but to help the police. She
reluctantly agrees. As she stays there, she grows closer to Nicholas. But, she
is unaware that the real threat that brought her to Jennings is right there,
and close to Nellie.
While I enjoyed the
characters and premise, I had a problem with the story wrapping up too quickly.
The story starts off April 7 at 1:15am, with the concluding events on/at April
23rd at 1:45am. Thus, the story itself is only about sixteen (16) days long.
With regard to the police
department scene – a detective or someone would’ve (or should’ve) had Charlotte
examine mug shots or consult with a sketch artist to make sure she was talking
about the same people as they were. This would prove problematic in a court
room when it comes time to testify. As someone who studied Criminal Justice, it
doesn’t sit quite right with me.
Also, there was no formal
statement taken as most of it was done on the phone, the detective should’ve at
least taken a formal statement for her to sign. There was also no offer for
Charlotte to talk to a counselor to make sure she was all right and mentally
healthy to do what was asked of her. She had been having issues handling the
death of her father, witnessed a murder, had a traumatic accident, and had just
gotten her memory back.
In addition, the police
usually go to more lengths to protect “material witnesses”, especially one as
essential as Charlotte. While not 100% safe, they usually work hard to assure
their safety.
As I understand the book
was more of a romance, it did have suspense elements and I expected a bit more
in the way of an investigation. There was room to build the story up with a bit
more tension and suspense, perhaps a bit more realistic encounter with the
police detective.
The relationships with
Nicholas and Nellie were heart-warming, endearing, and inspiring. It definitely
showed how faith in God works, highlighting both Nicholas and Charlotte’s
relationship with God in not only good times, but bad as well. His with what is
family was going through and Charlotte with what she had been through.
The book isn’t a long
read, the paperback version comes in at just 234 pages. The chapters tend
between very short and very long. The first one was a challenge to get through
at 55 pages long. The second was five (5) pages in comparison. Chapter five (5)
was about 50. After that, they tend to pace themselves out pretty evenly,
except for chapter nine (9). I mention this because some people like to stop
reading at a chapter and at over 30+ pages per chapter, it can be tedious.
One final issue was two
of the names in the book were quite interesting – Bob Crane (a well known actor
who met a rather suspicious end) and Tom Jones (a well known singer).
Despite the faux pas, it
was a delightful read and I would be interested to see where the other
characters (Nellie and Vincent) end up since the two main characters also seem
to have a “happy ending”.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kathy M. Howard resides in Blackshear,
Georgia with her husband and two daughters. She has been involved in education
since 1998 as an elementary school teacher, a private school principal, and
presently as a homeschooling mom.
You can follow her on the following social
media accounts:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kathymhoward1/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kathymhoward1
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