#BookReview The First Days of August by Alan Froning

I have a love/hate relationship with this book. For one, it’s seriously incredible and so well written that OMG why haven’t you read it yet? For the second, the ending made me SO DARN MAD. I did not enjoy that ending and I think it almost defeated the purpose of this book – but I’m not the writer, so I don’t really get a say in that.

Either way, this book is EPIC. It reminds me of Mission Impossible meets Medical Drama – action, adventure, mystery, intrigue, sexy R rated romance, thrills and lots of science! It’s a great mash-up of two big draws for books – mystery and medical.

The lead of this book is Steve August. This man takes a job at a famous laboratory to help develop a cure for brain cancer. Along the way, we meet his girlfriend Morgan, some shady co-workers and some giant secrets the lab doesn’t want anyone to know. Steve doesn’t go actively looking for them, he’s simply a tired scientist who accidentally stumbled across them. That ignites a wild chase where everyone is trying to stop everyone else.

There’s some side plots in this story that I actually really enjoyed. Morgan’s side stories made me quite happy – typically the girlfriends in stories like this are just used as the sex object and damsel in distress. This girl was NOT a damsel in distress and had some quality moments. That being said… there was a woman who was essentially a sex object but was the bad guy. I’m not sure where I sit with her, but I did think her story arc was interesting.

I found this book to be highly addicting. The first few chapters didn’t draw me in as much as I would have liked, but I stuck it through and found myself REALLY enjoying the book. It’s an adult mystery novel that felt intense and thrilling. I needed to know what would happen to Steve and Morgan (and everybody else, but I was mostly invested in those two). And, to be brutally honest, I’m not sure why more people haven’t read this book (or at least rated and reviewed it on Goodreads). It’s better than a lot of mystery books I have read! Alan Froning has some real talent!

In summary – this book is a wild ride that I’d highly recommend. I didn’t enjoy the ending per say, but it was still a well written book (and ending!). If you like thrillers, mystery, medical books and books with some epic plot twists, grab this book!

Four out of five stars.

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Check out this book on:
Amazon.ca
Goodreads
Kobo
Indigo

 

If you enjoyed this book, check out another you might enjoy:
#BookReview Avalon Hall by Ruth Miranda
#BookReview A Woman of Valor by Gary Corbin
#BookReview Open Source by Anna L. Davis

 

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