Chris Buckley doesn’t care anymore. He decides to run away from the secrets and the quest to find answers about the town of Solitary. But he is running in the wrong direction.
Following Solitary and Gravestone, the first half of The Solitary Tales series, Travis gives us Temptation– the book that finally gives us answers to some of the questions readers have been asking after reading the first two books. These answers made the novel all the more enjoyable.
The main reason why Temptation was such a great read was because of the difference that the reader can see in the series’ main character, Chris. He is not a kid anymore. The events that have happened involving him and around him have taken their toll. The Chris in the last two books, as Chris tells readers early on in this book, is no more. I felt Chris’ emotions as they pulsed from the page. As an eighteen year-old, I could identify with a lot of things that he faces throughout the story. Travis has done an excellent job at conveying the thoughts of a teenage boy as if he were one not too long ago.
The intrigue in the novel never lets up. As with its predecessors, I found myself reading fifty pages in what seemed to be in less than half an hour. Sometimes I wanted to reach through the pages, grab Chris by the throat and scream at him. Other times, I identified with him and felt the sadness and the anger that rises inside of him.
Temptation is an intense, driving prelude to what is sure to be a explosive end to an amazing series.
Note: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in an exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are mine.
Evan W.S. Morgan 