Friday Book Report: A World I Never Made by James LePore

James LePore’s novel, A World I Never Made is a suspense thriller that takes Patrick Nolan across the globe to track his estranged daughter before it’s too late for her and for him as well.  It was published in 2009 by The Story Plant.

American Patrick Nolan is beckoned to Paris to identify the body of his daughter Megan, who has apparently committed suicide.  Megan leaves him a cryptic suicide note, and while at the morgue to identify his daughter, he knows it is not Megan and it’s clear that she has staged her fake death and is calling to him for help.  Now Patrick, armed with only a few mysterious clues, searches for his daughter, and the closer he gets to finding her, the more dangerous the journey becomes.

Joining Pat on his search is Paris detective Catherine Laurence, a beautiful woman, but a tortured soul, much like himself.  The two bond and their friendship turns into much more as they hunt for his wayward daughter.   They are both tormented by past mistakes, and in each other the possibility for healing and peace finally seems to be conceivable.

Megan, a freelance journalist was in Morocco for research when she meets Abdel Lahani, a Saudi businessman.  She begins an affair with Lahani, something Megan has done often in her adult life.  But this is one man that could ruin the game, and what she learns about Lahani could have disastrous results for her and the world at large.

This book started out slow, but it started to pick up and peak my interest about halfway through.  It’s predictable in spots, and while the author makes no bones about who the villains are, the ending is anything but predictable and should leave the reader with a somewhat satisfying end.  I liked the juxtaposition of the two stories and how they collide together at the end.  While Patrick and Catherine are searching for Megan, we get a glimpse into Megan’s life with Lahani bit by bit and learn why she did what she did at about the same time as Patrick.

What I didn’t like about this book was that Megan was so completely self-centered and vain; it was hard to root for her and want her to be found.  Pat and Megan have had a rocky relationship at best, but even with all the mistakes made I felt Megan’s cry for attention a little too preposterous for me to believe.  Add to that that after one epiphany she completely changes course and the reader is left to presume that she’s reconciled her past life and reformed.  I didn’t buy it, and even towards the end I still felt a little disdain for her character.

LePore also tries to impress the reader with his massive vocabulary and doesn’t hesitate to pull out the big money words whenever he can.  I find this type of writing to be arrogant and pointless.  An author doesn’t need big words to get his point across; in fact, I think it loses focus from the actual story.  LePore spent so much time describing scenes and places that weren’t essential to the story, at times the actual dialogue and storyline got lost amongst the hefty writing.  It’s a rare talent for an author to know when to describe scenes and when to back off and just tell the story, and at times in this book LePore spent too much time describing and reaching for his thesaurus and not enough time developing the characters and plotline.  I know I harp on a lot of authors for this very pet-peeve of mine, but it really makes or breaks a book for me. 

But overall, it’s got good suspense and a somewhat satisfying ending.  Patrick and Catherine are believable characters and I found I was very interested in learning more about them and their backstory.  I give this book a C+ grade, because of the incessant overuse of haughty words and unnecessary descriptions.  It’s predictable in parts, but it has good suspense and I liked how LePore merged the two storylines together to come to the climax at the end.  It is not a suspense novel for younger readers.  It has adult situations and harsh language that wouldn’t be fit for anyone younger than 15 or 16.   I doubt I’d read this again, but it kept my interest and kept me entertained for the most part, and that’s all I generally look for in a book.