by Jason Mott
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Just released: August 2013
Publisher: Harlequin
Genre: Paranormal
Hardback: 352 pages
Rating: 4
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"Jacob was time out of sync, time more perfect than it had been. He was life the way it was supposed to be all those years ago. That's what all the Returned were."
Harold and Lucille Hargrave's lives have been both joyful and sorrowful in the decades since their only son, Jacob, died tragically at his eighth birthday party in 1966. In their old age they've settled comfortably into life without him, their wounds tempered through the grace of time…. Until one day Jacob mysteriously appears on their doorstep—flesh and blood, their sweet, precocious child, still eight years old.
All over the world people's loved ones are returning from beyond. No one knows how or why this is happening, whether it's a miracle or a sign of the end. Not even Harold and Lucille can agree on whether the boy is real or a wondrous imitation, but one thing they know for sure: he's their son. As chaos erupts around the globe, the newly reunited Hargrave family finds itself at the center of a community on the brink of collapse, forced to navigate a mysterious new reality and a conflict that threatens to unravel the very meaning of what it is to be human.
With spare, elegant prose and searing emotional depth, award-winning poet Jason Mott explores timeless questions of faith and morality, love and responsibility. A spellbinding and stunning debut, The Returned is an unforgettable story that marks the arrival of an important new voice in contemporary fiction.
PeekAbook:
My two-bits:
In-a-word(s): oppression
While the initial wonder of a phenomenon of the dead returning (without zombie attack frenzy) blows over, the question of what now certainly pulls you through the story. And even once you put the book down, the question still niggles in your mind of what What would I do if a loved one returned?
FYI:
CNN: Your book is now being turned into a TV series. How is that going?
Mott: It's going really well. I don't have much direct involvement, which I'm actually very glad about since things are so busy right now. I made a deal with Plan B, Brad Pitt's film company, and they brought in a wonderful writer, Aaron Zelman, who worked on AMC's "The Killing," and they're doing a great job. They're filming outside Atlanta right now.
Jason: I've had a chance to meet the cast, and they're all really excited. I had a chance to see the pilot, and I like what they're doing with it.
It's a little bit surreal, seeing the actors playing these characters who've I had close to my heart. It's like being outside of yourself for a moment. It's almost like sending a child out into the world. It's been fascinating, fun and a little bit scary at times. With all authors when you option the rights to your work, there's a little bit of nervousness over what will happen to it, how will it come out? But once I saw the pilot, it was so well-done, I'm really excited about it.
-per CNN article
* review copy courtesy of publisher
* part of event: Ghostly Ghosts
