Thursday, July 26, 2012

Sydney West by R. McKinsey

A bit of a slow start, I thought, but only at first. Reading into the actual story I realized this was necessary to setting the plot. This is a book unlike any I've read.

A very unusual story, who is this man Sydney West? I almost felt that the author was playing games with the reader, which somehow made me want to learn more. There are a number of clues scattered throughout the book if you take the time to see them for what they are. Otherwise, Sydney West is a complete enigma. Sydney not only marches to a different drummer, his feet take him where he doesn't know he wants to be. I feel I've fallen down the rabbit hole, Sydney is the white rabbit and as Alice would say "Curiouser and curiouser." Who or what is Sydney? No matter the whys and wherefores, I am intrigued. How did he play such a wonderful piece on the piano when he doesn't remember it? How does he know one thing and not another? This is not just a case of amnesia, but perhaps something much darker.

Sydney attends university, has a friend, maybe even a few friends, young people who he meets along the way while trying to figure out why he is there. Who knows if they are truly friends? He is someone he is not, so how can he trust others? This book is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but maybe a tea of a different flavour is good. In my opinion this would be a great book for discussion, for readers looking for something completely different in a mystery, readers who like puzzles, and those who enjoy conspiracy theories. Don't get me wrong, this bizarre book is character-driven and the main character is fascinating. A complicated character, one who we'll be seeing again. Rebecca McKinsey is definitely a storyteller. A challenging and imaginative debut series for this author.

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