The Canary List, by Sigmund Brouwer (review & giveaway)

3 STARS

About the book - 

Protected by the dark of night, Jaimie Piper runs. But is anywhere safe when Evil is hunting you?

She’s just a twelve year-old girl, bumped around between foster homes and relegated to school classes for challenged kids, those lagging in their test scores or with behavioral issues. But her real problem is that she can sense something the other kids can’t—something dark. Something compelling her to run for her life.

All Crockett Grey wants is to mark the anniversary of his daughter’s death alone.

But when his student Jaimie comes to him, terrified, her need for protection collides with his grief, and a tangled web of bizarre events sends them both spiraling toward destruction.

Crockett’s one hope of getting his life back is to uncover the mysterious secrets of Jaimie’s past and her strange gift. It isn’t long before his discoveries lead him to a darker conspiracy, secrets guarded by the highest seat of power in the world—the Vatican.

My Review -
The description sounds like it promises to be a great book doesn't it? Too bad the Author doesn't really fulfill his promises. This book just did not do it for me. It was not terrible. Actually it started out great.
I loved the first half. But then it just got really too weird. I mean even for a weird book it was too weird, and I read a lot of weird books!

This just in - "Mild mannered school teacher tries to help little girl ends up being framed for child porn and uncovers witches and deamons in the Vatican"

I felt like the author thought "OK how much more weird stuff can we cram into this book?"
In the beginning I felt really connected to the characters - the little girl, Jamie, you really felt for her and want her to get help. But then in the middle you think whoa, do I even know this girl, who is she anyway?

And the teacher, Crockett, is very likeable too in his strange way. You wanted so much for him to be able to help Jamie. But again in the middle he turned into this James Bond person who all of the sudden has the bravery to stand up to anyone. I could never really figure out why everyone kept him informed, kept telling him everything, even in the end they spilled everything to him - why?
Somewhere in the middle the Characters got lost in the muddle of the weirdness of the story. The feeling for the characters and the humanness disappeared.

And the ending was very rushed. It was almost like the Author sat you down and said "OK in 30 seconds or less, I'm gonna tell you what happens."

This book got a few very good reviews (5 and 4 stars) so obviously some people loved it! I guess I am just really picky about my weird books. Oh and another thing that bugs me is the cover. I know the Author doesn't pick the cover, so nothing against him but it has nothing to do with the story!

**Thank you Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group for sending me this book to review.

Giveaway - Well if you think this is the kind of book for you, don't let me stand in your way! I am giving away my copy of the ARC.

* Only US & Canada please.
* Either comment here with your email address! or email me at - forevereading at gmail dot com
* Winner will be chosen via random.org and announced on - April 1st (hmmm April Fools Day).
* Winner will have 48 hrs. to respond