Book Review: Apostle Unbound (Richard Godwin)
I have to admit, it has been a while since I read a mystery, thriller (or any kind of) novel for fun, because my uni classes already force me to read so much. So when I decided to give this novel a try, I expected a week long process of getting back into "normal" reading, where I didn't analyse every single word, comma or spelling mistakes. Boy, was I wrong. Apostle Unbound by Richard Godwin pulled me in strongly, it only took me two proper reading sessions to finish it and I really was impressed by the complexity of the novel and how easy it still was to follow all the characters. Once I got my brain to overlook the occasional typo here and there, there was really no stop to it.
I will try not to give any spoilers when I talk about it, you'll just have to read it for yourselves. The story covers everything, the danger detectives and police men have to face every day due to their jobs, the darkness of crime and corruption all over the world and the damage all of that on a person and their relationships. Detective Stone is the perfect example for a woman who wants a career and doesn't know how to deal with the pressure of having a family and her job at the same time. She comes across like a strong, amazing woman, but she has her weak moments too and although I wasn't too sold on them at the beginning, I really appreciated the reality of her character, because even if we sometimes don't want to admit it, even the strongest people sometimes seek out for comfort and love. The retired Detective Castle seems like he stands on the other side of the spectrum, where Stone still wants to fight for love, he has entirely given up on it and for good reasons (which you will have to find out for yourselves). All the characters in Apostle Unbound are really multi-dimensional and if you can overlook the occasional slip, they are still very realistic and make their suffering even more relatable to read.
Personally I am always a sucker for a two sided villain, a bad person who has their reasons and back story for their "badness" and yet seem loyal to the people close to them, are maybe even able to form deep, romantic relationships. Elijah, the assumed villain in Apostle Unbound, covers all of that and more, which was one of the main reasons I was so invested in the story. Black, who is your classic "pulling the strings behind bars" criminal did not spark too much empathy in me, but what he did was truly impressive, so I give him that.
I have to admit, the different lengths of the chapters and the in story "titles" of some sections/chapters did take me a while to get used to, every now and then I wasn't sure if it was now a different story or just a change in perspective, but once you adjust to that, it adds another nice element to the reading process.
If you can't deal with more detailed crime scenes and the hard, real life of a detective, then this might not be the book for you, but I really enjoyed the goosebumps that ran over my back every now and then, when I imagined the things that happened to people and how well they were described, at least in the beginning. Especially in the last third it was a little bit more difficult to sense the passion and emotion in the killings, but it was still a solid read, especially because I really wanted to find out what would happen in the end. And I was not disappointed, not at all.
One thing I should probably mention, is that Apostle Unbound is actually the sequel to Richard Godwin's novel Apostle Rising. However, I had not read the first part of the sequel before and still loved the world built around Frank Castle and the other characters and I am definitely excited to read more of Richard Godwin and potentially the other parts of this series. So even if you don't know the first part, this will still be a solid thriller, ready to be devoured.
If you are now interested in reading it, here is the link to the kindle version on Amazon Apostle Unbound.
I hope this review was entertainable to read, because I really want to get more into reading again and for some reason, knowing I want to write a blog post on a novel, makes me way more focused on the characters, their actions and the story itself, so I definitely want to keep doing these.
Take care and read on,
Lena
Follow me and stay in touch:
Twitter: @lena_fiala
Instagam: @lena_fiala_
Business enquiries: lena.fiala99@gmail.com
I will try not to give any spoilers when I talk about it, you'll just have to read it for yourselves. The story covers everything, the danger detectives and police men have to face every day due to their jobs, the darkness of crime and corruption all over the world and the damage all of that on a person and their relationships. Detective Stone is the perfect example for a woman who wants a career and doesn't know how to deal with the pressure of having a family and her job at the same time. She comes across like a strong, amazing woman, but she has her weak moments too and although I wasn't too sold on them at the beginning, I really appreciated the reality of her character, because even if we sometimes don't want to admit it, even the strongest people sometimes seek out for comfort and love. The retired Detective Castle seems like he stands on the other side of the spectrum, where Stone still wants to fight for love, he has entirely given up on it and for good reasons (which you will have to find out for yourselves). All the characters in Apostle Unbound are really multi-dimensional and if you can overlook the occasional slip, they are still very realistic and make their suffering even more relatable to read.Personally I am always a sucker for a two sided villain, a bad person who has their reasons and back story for their "badness" and yet seem loyal to the people close to them, are maybe even able to form deep, romantic relationships. Elijah, the assumed villain in Apostle Unbound, covers all of that and more, which was one of the main reasons I was so invested in the story. Black, who is your classic "pulling the strings behind bars" criminal did not spark too much empathy in me, but what he did was truly impressive, so I give him that.
I have to admit, the different lengths of the chapters and the in story "titles" of some sections/chapters did take me a while to get used to, every now and then I wasn't sure if it was now a different story or just a change in perspective, but once you adjust to that, it adds another nice element to the reading process.
If you can't deal with more detailed crime scenes and the hard, real life of a detective, then this might not be the book for you, but I really enjoyed the goosebumps that ran over my back every now and then, when I imagined the things that happened to people and how well they were described, at least in the beginning. Especially in the last third it was a little bit more difficult to sense the passion and emotion in the killings, but it was still a solid read, especially because I really wanted to find out what would happen in the end. And I was not disappointed, not at all.
One thing I should probably mention, is that Apostle Unbound is actually the sequel to Richard Godwin's novel Apostle Rising. However, I had not read the first part of the sequel before and still loved the world built around Frank Castle and the other characters and I am definitely excited to read more of Richard Godwin and potentially the other parts of this series. So even if you don't know the first part, this will still be a solid thriller, ready to be devoured.
If you are now interested in reading it, here is the link to the kindle version on Amazon Apostle Unbound.
I hope this review was entertainable to read, because I really want to get more into reading again and for some reason, knowing I want to write a blog post on a novel, makes me way more focused on the characters, their actions and the story itself, so I definitely want to keep doing these.
Take care and read on,
Lena
Follow me and stay in touch:
Twitter: @lena_fiala
Instagam: @lena_fiala_
Business enquiries: lena.fiala99@gmail.com
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