I received this book from the Goodreads First reads giveaway program. Thank you author/publisher for the opportunity to read and review your new novel. The Barkeep by William Lashner is a thriller. This was my first time reading anything of Lashner will not be my last. The Barkeep follows Justin Chase a barkeep , used to be law student who didn't take the bar exam, living in a state of Zen, which I wish hadn't been so focused on in the story.. cause I didn't see what it added, it didn't need it. Justin is working the bar when a man Birdie Grackle comes in and confesses to murdering his mother six years ago for $$$. Justin had always had another person pegged as the murderer all these years. The story goes on with Justin trying to find out the real story.....The Barkeep was definitely a page turner... most chapters ended with just enough to make you want to keep reading on. I thought the fact that the chapters were titled after a drink was kind of cool. After all this was about a barkeep.William Lashner is a bestselling author and has written several novels including the popular Victor Carl series. I picked this book up a bit ago as part of the Kindle First program, which gave me the option to pick between four different books. This book seemed the lesser of evils, so I picked it. Based on its description, it didn’t really seem like my type of book, but I figured I would give it the good ol’ college try.The book started out slow for me and I struggled to get through the first half, but once I did, it started flowing freely. It wasn’t an awful beginning but nothing about the plot seemed to tickle “my keep reading at all costs” bone. (Avid readers will understand). The chapters are short, which I really liked; With each chapter, the points of view jumped between various characters, which weaved a fairly decent plot. The characters all felt very unique and never completely flat. My favorite character happened to be Derek, who had a very simplistic view of the world and the people he worked with, which I thought was great. The main character would seem like a person I should have been able to relate to but that never really happened with me.The suspense and mystery of the book were interesting but not great. The one thing I liked is the author never really tried to keep anything from the reader. As certain things came forward you learned them with the main characters. When the reveal occurred, with quite a bit of the book left, it felt nice that the author hadn’t tried to hide it away for a grand twist of some sort.The overall theme, I felt, was about a person’s acceptance of truth. Not the truth of what’s true but rather what a person believes to be true. Things are often portrayed as credible events until something comes a long that makes it go up in smoke. The main character is trying to live a Zen philosophy, and maintain a level of non-attachment to the world around him. It brings forth the question, “Is he trying to accept the truth or run from it?” You watch as the main character’s world slowly starts to crumble as illusions are shattered and at a certain point he is left with a decision, to stay or leave. I wouldn’t say the character’s journey throughout the novel was all that fresh but I did like to see how he created options for himself.If you’re in the mood for a decent mystery novel, with some suspense and drama and good characters, you won’t go wrong with this book. At the end I liked it; It wasn’t great but it was good.Verdict: Recommended
Do You like book The Barkeep (2014)?
I like the author first so I had to read this book. It was good with lots of twists and turns.
—Kring
a freebie from amazon prime. Well written, good story. I would read another book by Lashner
—Ccghk
