Come to Dust by Bracken MacLeod
JournalStone (June 23, 2017)
$17.95 paperback; $4.95 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington
Last year, I got to read Bracken MacLeod’s Stranded. Sixteen crew members of the Arctic Promise become ice bound under strange circumstances. If you haven’t read it, you should. It’s one of 2016’s better reads.
Bracken’s new release, Come To Dust, is even better. Children die. It’s horrible when it happens, but we read about or hear about such tragedy every day. Bracken beautifully captures the grief of laying a child to rest…
Although green AstroTurf had been draped down to cover the bare earth sides of the hole, there was no imaginable way to disguise the fact that they were lowering a child into a grave. There was nothing loud enough to dispel the silence of a dead child.
Mitch LeRoux is taking steps to get his life back on track after a stint in prison. He’s not just doing it for himself, but also for his niece, Sophie, who’s been his ward ever since his sister took off with her drummer boyfriend.
I’m pretty sure you can see that things are not going to go well for Mitch, but that’s not what Come To Dust is about.
The story unfolds at a blistering pace. I won’t reveal all of its secrets. Those are best discovered in the process of reading the book, which I hope you’ll do.
This is a powerful story with highs and lows, and more than a few surprises. In many ways, Come To Dust is about second chances. It also shines a light on ignorance, and fear of those who are different. Very much a tale of and for the times in which we live.
Highly recommended.
