The Call
Aug 19, 2011
The Call
Author: Yannick Murphy
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Harper Perennial; Original edition (August 2, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0062023144
ISBN-13: 978-0062023148
When I first received this book I headed first to the press release. Upon reading the line “original narrative style” my first thought was “Uh-oh”. I had fears of unintelligible gibberish or some such thing. (I have experience, it has happened before!)
I am very glad to report I was completely wrong. The narrative is original – in a very fun way.
David is a rural vet and each little section starts with The Call, then goes on to Action, Result, Thoughts on way home, What I told the Wife, What the Wife said, What we had for dinner, etc. The lines do change a bit from time to time but the basic theme remains.
Now it’s the wording after the colon (ie. The Call:) that gets good. Sweetly sarcastic and thoughtful, sometimes downright funny, you really are interested in what David’s thinking and what they had for dinner. You also get some wonderful James Herriot moments with the country vet calls.
The book itself does have a substantial story line. David and son go out on the boy’s first hunting trip only to have an illegal hunter accidentally shoot the boy out of the tree stand, causing him to fall and land on his head. While the boy remains in a coma, David becomes obsessed (and rightly so) about who did this to his son. As he visits local farms for animal issues, he discretely interrogates each and every person and looks about with suspicion.
Combine this with his own health issues, a possible UFO and an unexpected visitor that will change his world…. You have a nice meaty story on your hands.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
