Sunday, July 29, 2012

The Last Ride by James Thomas


From Goodreads - Camelia is a recently orphaned teen who has to make it to her estranged grandparents' home in South Dakota or face foster care. But she's too young to travel alone, and she doesn't have enough money.


Bear is Camelia's neighbor, an aging biker with a terminal illness who is determined to make one last run to the big Harley riders' meet in Sturgis.



Camelia talks Bear into taking her along, since her grandparents live less than thirty miles from Sturgis.



Together with Bear's younger sister and a friend, they take off on Harleys, planning on going the long way and soaking up the scenery.



Things go well for a while, and it really is a dream vacation. Then people they meet start turning up dead. The group learns that a mass murderer known as the Northwest Killer is operating in the area. That's bad enough, but it soon becomes apparent that they are somehow psychically linked to the man.



For Camelia, it becomes less a matter of reaching her grandparents than of simply staying alive.



The Last Ride is a road novel, with death riding along. While it’s technically a young adult book because of Camelia's age (14), adults who don't require sex or four-letter words in their reading material should find it an interesting read.



I won't go into a summary of the book.  The description above pretty much tells you what this novel is about and who is in it.  What it doesn't give you is the emotion packed within these pages.   I love stories that travel, giving the reader a glimpse at different places and meeting new people.  The Last Ride is just so powerful.  A young orphan and a terminally ill biker, whose bond of friendship strengthens as their journey progresses.  Definitely have the tissues handy for this one! With wonderful character development and a heart-string tugging storyline, The Last Ride is a wonderful read.  I'm not a biker, but this book makes me want to go for a ride.  I look forward to what James Thomas writes next! 



*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

No comments:

Post a Comment

The old grey donkey, Eeyore stood by himself in a thistly corner of the Forest, his front feet well apart, his head on one side, and thought about things. Sometimes he thought sadly to himself, "Why?" and sometimes he thought, "Wherefore?" and sometimes he thought, "Inasmuch as which?" and sometimes he didn't quite know what he was thinking about.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to leave a comment. It's appreciated.