The Call by Yannick Murphy

In The Call, a country veterinarian and his family are shaken when their young son is left in a coma after a hunting accident. Despite this, they try to maintain some order in their lives. He goes out on calls to take care of sick animals all the while to trying to find the man who shot his son. Then one day a visitor arrives unexpectedly and disrupts their pseudo-order once again.

I enjoyed this book. It's quite quirky and is written in a highly structured way that I haven't seen in any other novel. It starts off with brief rigid log entries about the vet's calls out to sick animals and gradually expands to include information about the other things, including some of the mundane ones, in their lives. I was amazed that the book kept to its log-like format throughout the whole book. I appreciated the format and author's discipline to keep to that format, but I might have preferred it if she had broken away from it for short periods. There were a few times where that format didn't quite fit with the situations in the book. I can't name them specifically, but I remember thinking that while I was reading.

I liked the characters, especially the vet. I loved reading about the animals he cared for and the owners he had to deal with. I also got a glimpse into the vet's family life, with his comatose son, his young daughters and his wife. It definitely gave me a new perspective and appreciation for those who making their living off the land. The one thing that bothered me was that the vet kept saying he was determined to find the man who shot his son, but I didn't get his sense of urgency. He thought about it a lot and went to talk to people, but his "investigation" was more roundabout than direct.

I didn't quite grasp the spacecraft or spaceman part of the story. I think I got who he was, but I couldn't figure out what "space" had to do with it. I must have missed something somewhere. I'm a little disappointed that some of its relevance was lost on me because it was a major part of the book. It didn't stop me from enjoying the story, though.

Recommended for those looking for something out of the ordinary.

For more information about this book, please visit the HarperCollins website.

This was a win from a newsletter giveaway on Shelf Awareness. Thanks HarperCollins.

The Call by Yannick Murphy, Harper Perennial (HarperCollins), ©2011. ISBN 9780062023148(Trade Paperback), 223p.