One Summer

One Summer by David Baldacci

This is a great beach read to finish out the summer with.

Jack Armstrong is dying of a terminal disease. He is determined to live through Christmas so he can spend one last Christmas with his loving wife, Lizzie and his three children, Mikki, Cory, and Jackie. Jack writes a collection of letters for Lizzie, to be found after his death. Right before Christmas, Lizzie is killed in a car accident while picking up prescriptions for Jack. Lizzie's parents come to make arrangements which include putting Jack in a hospice facility and farming the boys, Cory and Jackie, out to their aunts while they take their teenage granddaughter, Mikki to Arizona. Jack is left alone to die in a strange place.

Then the unthinkable happens. Jack begins to show improvement and miraculously recovers. Some might think this is far fetched but go with it here. You'll be glad in the end you did. After a stint in rehab, he rebuilds his life and brings his children back home. They become a family once again but there are troubles to be had. Mikki is an angry teenager, Cory is having problems in school and little Jackie proves to be a handful.

When Jack inherits Lizzie's childhood home on South Carolina's beachfront, he packs up the family and moves there. Life is not much easier there. Jack revisits the letters he wrote to Lizzie to try and make sense of it all. Jack feels the need to reconnect with Lizzie any way he can.

The storyline was very fast moving and I had a hard time putting the book down. I found this book to be full the miracles of hope, love and family. There were many twists and turns in the story. Life can change on a dime and those changes can be quite unexpected.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The descriptions of the South Carolina were stunning. I could almost hear the crashing waves and feel the sand between my toes. The characters were well developed and I felt as though I knew them all, including the ones I was not fond of.

I have not read any books by David Baldacci and I understand this is not his usual type of book. I for one, am glad he broke away from his usual writings and gave us this little gem of a book.