Book Review: Providence By Caroline Kepnes

Providence by Caroline Kepnes

Personal Rating: 3 / 5 Stars

Reading Level: Adult / Easy - Language / Violence

SPOILERS BELOW!

Providence is mostly based out of Nashua, New Hampshire and is a mystery novel in which a young boy, Jon, takes his normal walking route to school through the forest to avoid being bullied and ends up getting kidnapped along with his beloved school hamster, Pedro. No body is ever discovered. His only friend, Chloe, believes he is still out there and her unconditional love for him continues to motivate her to keep searching.

Years pass and Jon emerges from an abandoned, experimental basement room in a downtown mall. All he is left with is a note from Roger Blair, a copy of a book called The Dunwich Horror and supernatural powers. Jon has no idea what's in store for him next. He finds out that Chloe has still been looking for him, but has also mostly moved on with her own life as a well known painter.

Jon soon discovers that with his new powers he can kill completely by accident and without leaving a trace. A soon-to-be retired officer, "Eggs" Benedictus, catches wind of Jon the Basement Boy and is on the hunt to find him. However, Jon is afraid of his own power and goes back into hiding until he decides he can use his power for good, all the while, looking for Roger Blair to get answers.

Eventually the book winds up back in the downtown mall that Jon was originally held in for several years and all of our characters come to meet.

What I enjoyed:

Providence is easy to read and keeps you wondering how everything is going to turn out for Jon, Chloe and Eggs. I enjoyed that each chapter was from the point of view from either Jon, Chloe or Eggs.

What I did not enjoy:

I found it hard to read quickly as I became bored with the characters after a short while. I also felt that the ending was incomplete and rushed as I still have questions to what happened to our main characters. It was as if the book was started without any real ending in mind.

All in all, I gave this book 3 / 5 stars because of the points I mentioned above. I enjoyed the story line but did feel the ending was rushed and questions were left unanswered. It was the perfect short mystery read to kick off the fall season. I will likely not pick this book up to read for a second time, but I would happily recommend to someone who wants an easy to follow mystery novel.