Willnot by James Sallis

Willnot by James Sallis
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 192

Publisher - No Exit Press

Blurb from Goodreads

In the woods outside the town of Willnot, the remains of several people have suddenly been discovered, unnerving the community and unsettling Hale, the town's all-purpose general practitioner, surgeon, and town conscience. At the same time, Bobby Lowndes--his military records disappeared, being followed by the FBI--mysteriously reappears in his hometown, at Hale's door. Over the ensuing months, the daily dramas Hale faces as he tends to his town and to his partner, Richard, collide with the inexplicable vagaries of life in Willnot. And when a gunshot aimed at Lowndes critically wounds Richard, Hale's world is truly upended.


My Review

By reading the blurb, I took this book to be a crime/murder/who done it with the effects it has on the small town. It isn't that kind of book at all really, whilst there are bodies found and shootings, the book is not primarily about that. It is more centered on the ripples the bodies found has on the town and the main character, who he is, what he does for the town, flashbacks to things that happened in his life.

I have found this to be the case before, reading the blurb sets a bar and raises expectations of what said book will be about, as a result I didn't enjoy this book. I think had I picked it up and just read it I would have liked it far more as most readers loved it and it has high praise indeed. Instead I found there was a lot of characters that I couldn't quite see what part they would play in the crime aspect of the book and looked for plots and skulduggery where there weren't any.

A book that focuses on relationships, how events from the past can shape us as people and how a small town accepts folk quirks and all. It has quite a bit of medical talk in it being as the main character is the town doctor/surgeon I actually quite enjoyed these bits and it kept me reading. Not badly written at all however when you go into a book thinking it is one thing and it ends up being something entirely different it does dampen the enjoyment and raise expectations. Sadly 2/5 for me, I would read this author again however I would skip the blurb next time. Well written and enjoyed by many so give it a bash, it just wasn't for me.

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