Publisher: Penguin Group-Putnam G. P. Putnam's Sons
Date Published: The edition I read and am reviewing was published on August 9, 2016, but the original published date was January 12, 2016.
Disclaimer: I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
Book Blurb: "Peter Ash came home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with only one souvenir: what he calls his white static, the buzzing claustrophobia due to post-traumatic stress that has driven him to spend a year roaming in nature, sleeping under the stars. But when a friend from the Marines commits suicide, Ash returns to civilization to help the man's widow with some home repairs. Under her dilapidated porch, he finds more than he bargained for: the largest, ugliest, meanest dog he's ever encountered...and a Samsonite suitcase stuffed with cash and explosives. As Ash begins to investigate this unexpected discovery, he finds himself at the center of a plot that is far larger than he could have imagined...and it may lead straight back to the world he thought he'd left for good. Suspenseful and thrilling, and featuring a compelling new hero, The Drifter is an exciting debut from a fresh voice in crime fiction." https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30008826-the-drifter
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My Review: I really enjoyed this book. I have been in a rut of reading books that I liked, but I could not wait until I finished them. It was not the case with this book.
The best thing about the book is the characters. They are written in a way that makes them lifelike and easily relatable. There is Peter Ash, the veteran who suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); Dinah, the widow of Peter's best friend; and a villain with a guilty conscience. Peter overcomes his PTSD enough to be able to help Dinah investigate what happened to her husband. Dinah is caring and cautious in protecting her children but she wanted to know what happened to her husband. The villain has a guilty conscience because he has to continuously convince himself that what he is doing is right.
I liked that there was a good balance of action and violence with periods of scenes with little action and no violence. That balance made the story seem like it really happened. A reader would not get burned out with there being too much action but they would not get bored with there being not enough action.
The book switches views every couple of chapters. I normally don't like this as I think it disrupts the flow of the story or I don't like the character the point of view switched to. I would rather stay with the one already in the point of view and who I already like. However, I feel like this book is an exception to this. I think it helps make the story go faster and seems to make the story run better.
I don't think The Drifter has any drawbacks. It is not meant for young adults but that is already a given.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes mystery thrillers and crime fiction.
My Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
About The Author
Photo: © Troye Foxe
Nicholas Petrie received his MFA in fiction from the University of Washington, won a Hopwood Award for short fiction while an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, and his story "At the Laundromat" won the 2006 Short Story Contest in The Seattle Review, a national literary journal. A husband and father, he runs a home-inspection business in Milwaukee. The Drifter is his first novel.
