Richard Paul Evans's "The Road To Grace"...A Book Review

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A lot of the audiobooks I read/listen to come from my local library. The books are free, but you must have patience to get works written by popular authors. So when I saw a Richard Paul Evans book come available, I checked it out, downloaded it and listened to the whole thing in one afternoon. I didn't realize that the book, The Road to Grace, was number three in a series until after I had finished it. I knew nothing about this book or the series.

Truthfully, it didn't matter. It was a great little book which I enjoyed a lot, even though I had not read the first two books.

The Road to Grace continues the story of Alan Christoffersen, a recent widower who, after the death of his wife and the loss of his business, decides to walk from Seattle, Washington, to Key West, Florida. This book picks up his story as he's walking in South Dakota. It's a first-person perspective, told by the man who has experienced so much loss. I think it makes the story much more impactful than if it were a told from a third-person perspective.

In South Dakota Alan comes in contact with his mother-in-law. Alan does not like her. As the story unfolds, we find out why. I can only imagine more about their relationship was detailed in the previous books, but if not, Evans does a great job in creating tension between these two people. He also beautifully writes how their relationship evolves. 

Alan continues walking and he runs (or walks...) into trouble several times. Along the way he meets wonderfully developed characters, people we would love to meet or have in our lives.

Like I said, I enjoyed the story without knowing there were other books previous to this one. If I had known there were two other books, it might have not enjoyed this one as much. I might have kept thinking that I should have read the other books first. 

I have put the books on hold (like I said, you have to wait for the popular authors...) and even though I know what happens in The Road to Grace, I'm sure I'll enjoy them as well.

* Photo used without permission from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12275907-the-road-to-grace?from_search=true&search_version=service