Review of All Is Not Well

[Becca Olsson]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "All Is Not Well" by Tom Evans.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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In All is Not Well, by Tom Evans, the plot follows the quiet town of Wilsonville, or the “Village” as it’s referred to, and its inhabitants as they navigate life in a small town. Sheriff Grimes and his wife, Bobby, find themselves unable to have children. Bobby deals with this by inserting herself as a type of mother figure in the life of a baby named Gracie. As Gracie ages, the Grimes decide to adopt young Johnny to complete their family. Gracie becomes best friends with Toby and Johnny with Sheila and the respective pairs become inseparable as they grow up. Growing up and figuring out who you are is difficult enough, especially in a small town where gossip runs rampant. All is normal until the unthinkable happens, touching and changing everyone’s lives.

I found this book to be very well-written and descriptive. The author gives a good understanding of the characters and their lives. Gracie, especially, is a well-rounded and strong young girl who knows from the start that she is different from the other girls. Evans does a good job highlighting the difficulty and struggle Gracie experienced growing up with such athleticism and ambition during a time when girls didn’t play sports regularly and the only expectation was to settle down with a family. I found it to be very interesting that the two pairs of friends paralleled each other in that each introspective and level-headed boy was paired with an equally strong-willed girl with each boy willing to follow along for adventures no matter what.

I enjoyed that all the characters are given backstories, including the town which becomes a character in itself. It was a bit difficult at times to keep track of all the characters because of this, but I believe it lends to the author’s point that the few characters who were chosen to be highlighted were only a few of many who make up the town as a whole. Evans certainly captures the realistic nature of life in a small town through these characters; the hopeful nature that turns to disillusionment and disappointment.

There were a few negative aspects that detracted from my enjoyment the book. The main point of conflict in the book, the moment that changes everything for all of the characters involved, happens so fast that it almost feels glossed over. There are a lot of heavy topics involved in it and it’s a traumatic moment so I understand why some details don’t need to be added, but I had a moment as I read it where I questioned if that was the big event because it was gone in a few pages.

On the opposite end of that, there were some scenes and descriptions that went on significantly longer than they should have, dragging out moments of the book. For example, Jake, who is introduced within the last third of the pages, becomes an important character and I understand the need for him. However, his backstory takes up way too much space. This is mainly due to the description of a literary game he invented. The game is intricate and it’s clear the author put a lot of thought into it. This detail, though, includes formulas and examples of how it works and it was simply too much. Ultimately, the game plays little part in the relationship between his character and another aside from being what brought them together and I found it hard to hold on to my interest in the plot.

I rate this book three out of four stars. I found too many errors, which accounts for the deduction in stars. Otherwise, I enjoyed the overall story and found the characters and their struggles with growing up in their village to be engaging.

There are very heavy topics, including drugs and prostitution, and language that I would deem inappropriate for young readers. Therefore, I would only recommend this book to mature adults. Overall, this is a well-written and intriguing story that is definitely worth reading.

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All Is Not Well
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[MsH2k]

It sounds like the small, quiet town of Wilsonville holds a bit of drama. With such an involved storyline and so many characters, I can understand your frustration with having the description of a game take up so much space. Thank you for your engaging and thorough introduction to this read.

[Wren Michaels]

This sounds like a very interesting story. Thank you for your honest review and highlighting the need for editing.