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Good Book, But not Great

by Sarah Ulrich

February 17, 2012

The Canary List was good, but not great.

I'm familiar with Sigmund Brouwer - I read some of his books when I was young, and more recently enjoyed the Sam Keaton series. He is a talented writer, and here I saw his skills in yet another genre.

I never lost interest in The Canary List, and the characters were unique – although the theme of an ordinary man (Crockett Grey) suddenly finding himself in the middle of a complicated mystery seemed slightly cliché. The book’s pace was steady but not fast, although the chapters were short – a technique that I chuckled at for a while, before finding that the short chapters accomplished their mission – I kept reading! Enough chapters ended up in a cliffhanger to keep me turning the pages, even though I had resolved to pause “after this chapter”.

I felt that some plot elements were introduced but never completely resolved. Crockett’s dreams, for one. This book was also interesting in how it concerned demons and demonic possession, but each character had their own opinion on the spiritual realm, so views on the existence and influence of demons remained… unresolved. In other words, this book did not preach, nor would the reader be able to pinpoint for sure what the author’s own views are.

I give credit to Sigmund Brouwer for his ability to write books set in a variety of genres. He truly is talented. I do not feel that this book is among his best works. I never lost interest, but I would not read this book again.

Good, but not great.