Broken Summer by J. M. Lee
Publisher: Amazon Crossing
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Contemporary
Rating: 4 stars
Review by SnowdropA death, a lie, a secret. For twenty-six summers he didn’t have the courage to face the past.
Lee Hanjo is an artist at the peak of his fame, envied and celebrated. Then, on his forty-third birthday, he awakens to find that his devoted wife has disappeared, leaving behind a soon-to-be-published novel she’d secretly written about the sordid past and questionable morality of an artist with a trajectory similar to Hanjo’s. It’s clear to him that his life is about to shatter and the demons from his past will come out. But why did his wife do it? Why now?
The book forces Hanjo to reflect on a summer from his youth when a deadly lie irreversibly and tragically determined the fates of two families.
What if you were 40+ years old and found what you thought had been a good marriage, was not that at all? What if you found out because your wife was missing? Even more so, what if your wife left a note making it quite clear that she was aware of your past. Definitely not the good part of your past.
This book slips from one POV to another. It also weaves back and forth in time. Usually, I would say this was irritating, but here, the author seems to handle it well. It flows so well that you don’t realize the breaks. More importantly, it never seems to be confusing.
As far as the genre is concerned, this is a quick read with some tension, but I would label it more a suspense than a thriller. This is actually a point that made it more enjoyable to read as far as I’m concerned. If you’re in the mood for an easy read that will make your mind work a little too, Broken Summer is the perfect solution.
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