4 Pros and Cons to Help You Decide If You Should Read Thief River Falls

  

   “Because I need to be saved every bit as much as you.” (Freeman. 85). Lisa Powers, a writer made famous by her latest (fictional) novel named after her hometown: Thief River Falls, lost most of her family during what she labels the “Dark Star” in less than a year. To top it all off, her remaining twin brother, Noah, who has been with Lisa ever since they were kids, eventually runs from her which leaves Lisa alone to cope. Then one night, a runaway boy ends up at her house. He’s shy at first and suffers memory loss but eventually remembers and tells Lisa of a murder perpetrated by two police, a large man, and a local authority named Denis Farrell. Unfortunately for the boy, who Lisa names Purdue, the perpetrators are out for him. However, Lisa won’t let the boy go without a fight and without ensuring the perpetrators end up where they belong.

   1. Con: Some things are illogical or stupid. One example of this in the story is when Lisa makes unusual choices, such as not opening the door to the police at the start of the book or going to public places without properly hiding her face. These things helped the story progress, but they are not great ways to do so. Another example is how sometimes people would come to Lisa and just coincidentally have items that would greatly help Lisa, such as a taxi driver that randomly had connections to Lisa and an entire arsenal of guns, literally. Later in the book, Lisa and Noah end up having some sort of telepathic connection due do them being twins, which is totally ridiculous.

   2. Pro: It’s an intense story. The book is listed as a thriller and I found that it was pretty good story-wise. There was a lot of action, shown throughout the many moments where Lisa must make quick decisions during life-threatening events. Some examples of action are when the murderers catch Purdue or when Lisa confronts/outwits the two police involved in the murder. Other things that contributed to an on edge feeling when reading the book was Lisa’s popularity that made it hard for her to stay low (although she could have just covered her face better), Purdue’s memory loss causing there to be a mystery aspect of the story as well, the various plot twists, etc. The book was also emotional, although I will delve into that more in #4.

   3. Con: Some characters can be a little bland. During the story, I never really cared much for Lisa and the other characters. Purdue was interesting because he had memory loss and made me want to find out more about him, but Lisa was just a writer who really didn’t get much complexity other than really wanting to save the boy. Other characters barely appeared.

   4. Pro: The character relationships however were great. For example, the relationship between Purdue and Lisa was really endearing. Seeing them care about each other like mother and son even though they didn’t know each other was nice to see. This also caused the story to become emotional near the end because none of the choices Lisa could make would leave everyone happy (but something special does happen at the end which I will not spoil). In the story, there are also many descriptions of Noah and Lisa’s relationship which was interesting to read about. Knowing about these moments made it heartwarming when Noah ends up returning to Lisa later in the story.

-Luke You