Rob Carney, a champion sculler,
receives a scholarship to the prestigious Fenton School. He thinks
he'll be showing his prowess as a sculler, but the school has a
different idea. He is slated to be part of their star rowing team,
the God boat. Rob has reservations about being part of a rowing team,
particularly since the captain, Connor Payne, a millionaire legacy at the Fenton School, is as driven as Rob to win races, but
Connor's goal is to win the traditional Warwick race with the God
boat. He and the coach intend to force Rob to become part of the
team.
When the story opens, Carney, now a
freelance documentary filmmaker, is returning from a shoot in Africa.
His life has two emotional issues: he's breaking up with Carolyn, his
partner of five years, and he has received a letter from John Perry,
a rowing team member from the Fenton God boat, urging him to come to
the Fenton reunion. It's been fifteen years, but he and John are
still haunted by what happened after the Warwick race.
Although the story toggles back and
forth between the adult Carney and the fifteen-year-old, the author
does a good job of weaving the time periods together through the
emotional issues that span the two eras.
The book moves slowly. The rowing
scenes ring true, as do the interactions between the team members, but the action is measured, like the sport of rowing. The author tries to
hold the tension by referring to the inciting incident that haunts
the characters. However, the book drags because of the constant self-examination of the major character.
I found the book hard to get into. If
you love character driven stories about how incidents in the teen
years affect adult life, you'll enjoy this book. If you're looking
for action and adventure, give it a miss.
I reviewed this book for Net Galley.
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