The Return

Nicholas Sparks’ ‘The Return’ shows that sometimes the best journey in life is not from point A to point B to point C but from point C back to point A.

A longtime fan of Sparks’ writings, I have to admit the last few publishings from his ‘neck of the woods’ had been a little disappointing – and almost like each page was missing something that Sparks had in previous works.

In ‘The Return,’ Sparks not only ignited the words on each page with his special ‘touch,’ he redeemed himself as one of the best fiction writers – romance writers – of the day and time.

There was a little something more though that made this novel better … kind of like that secret ingredient that makes your daddy’s chili prize-winning or gets your grandma’s peach preserves the blue ribbon at the county fair.

The story unfolds with the ‘narrator,’ Trevor Benson, sitting in a church attending a wedding. A little early, sitting in the back by himself, Trevor reflects on just how he got to this wedding, and takes the readers back five years.

And what a tale he stirs up.

Trevor, a disabled war veteran, shares an epistle that involves a little bit of family heritage, a little bit of mystery, a little bit of self-acceptance and forgiveness, and of course, it wouldn’t be a Sparks’ story if it didn’t have some sort of entanglement with LOVE heading it.

“The Return” reminded me of a pot simmering on the stove of my mom’s homemade vegetable soup – there’s always a lot going on, and yet, it just goes together good.

Check it out today. (And if you get the hardback, the publisher gave us a present.)