David*Macinnis*Gill.com

Wow, it’s been two week since I posted.  Time flies when you’re overwhelmed. 

For awhile, I’ve been mean­ing to blog about Gail

not­jazz

Giles’ lat­est, RIGHT BEHIND YOU, the dark story of a fire­bug who is arrested for set­ting his neigh­bor on fire.  After spend­ing most of his life in an insti­tu­tion, Kip is finally released.  He, his father, and new step-mother leave Alaska for a new home in the lower 48.  Kip gets a new life–and a new name, Wade, which he takes as a way of describ­ing his strug­gles with life.  It isn’t easy being a mur­derer, espe­cially when the rea­son that Kip com­mit­ted mur­der is buried deep with him, and Kip finds him­self unable to for­ever hide his secret.

When you read a novel by Gail Giles, you know going in that the voice is going to be strong.  RIGHT BEHIND YOU is no dif­fer­ent.  Giles sweeps your right into the story, right into Kip’s point-of-view.  It is not a nice place to be, and to be hon­est, after the first few scenes, I almost put the book down.  Kip’s story is so com­pelling, though, that I was obliged to keep read­ing.  Boy, am I glad that I did.