Means of Support

Awesome book, loved the characters.

After I had finished this book by Ann Sommerville and by now having read almost all she wrote I had been thinking how easy it would have been to turn some of her books into public service announcement and how happy I am that she writes fiction first and foremost. If someone wants to take something from her books and do some good, great, if not, you can still enjoy a very well written tale. I mean, she always has some sort of social commentary in her books, in some books it is more visible in others more subtle, but she never preaches. In this book we see how much good one person can do even if all that he is trying to do is to give several hurt kids "a life without fear". Ethan is such a sympathetic protagonist, who had lost so much and is determined to make sure others who had been hurt had a safe place to stay and live despite what the world threw at them only because of who they are. Believe me, Ethan is not a saint, but he just feels so real and so do the kids whom he is trying to at least temporarily protect and shelter to give them chance to regroup and to go back to the world and be a little happier.

I am always delighted when in addition to cool protagonists writer can do secondary characters who are just as memorable and Lisa, Paul, Natasha they are all memorable, every single one of them.

I wished Cam would have been a little more fleshed out though, but otherwise it was a great book.