I am delighted to share my review today for Walk by James Rice. This is a title I saw on NetGalley and the synopsis looked interesting. It did take a while for me to get into but I soon found myself wanting to know how it was going to end. My thanks to Hodder and Stoughton for accepting my request to read this title.

Benny thought that it would be him and his dad doing the walk. Just him and his father, hiking through the Welsh countryside like they used to.

Only, when his dad got ill, it became obvious that this would never happen. So Benny was forced to consider other options.

If Benny is honest, he and Stephen haven’t been close since school, but once Benny had drunkenly blurted out the invitation, he couldn’t take it back.

Now Benny and Stephen are on the walk. A walk Benny has vowed to finish, no matter how hard it is. But as food runs low and money runs out, Stephen and Benny find themselves stranded on the edge of the world, far from home, where the possibility of return is becoming increasingly distant…

MY REVIEW

The synopsis for this book intrigued me it was a book that sounded quiet, I do like a quiet book it can be one that makes you think.

The book is essentially two guys walking along Offas Dyke, a route through the Welsh countryside that takes the walkers through the forest, mountain, marshy, and at times very stormy. On the whole, it is told by one of the men, with the other putting in his opinions when needed. One is an artist and the other works as a call centre worker for the benefits agency.

The two men are very different and as the story meanders through the countryside so the story of the men meanders with it. I discovered that they used to be friends, they used to be close but have drifted. With them, their sense of what they feel is important in life has also moved in different directions.

They both have demons and they still need to deal with them. Hopefully talking and walking will help them clear the air and their pasts.

This is a slower-paced story and one that I wasn’t sure about initially, it felt a little disjointed and I didn’t really feel I could gel with the two men. Gradually, however, they grew on me and I got to see how they thought, what they thought, and their opinions and views on many things in life. As I mentioned at the beginning of this review, this is a quiet story, but that doesn’t mean it is without its louder moments.

This went from a book I wasn’t sure about to one that I really knew I had to finish to understand the whole story and of course to see how things ended. This is one for those who like a story about life and discovering what is important. It is one that I really enjoyed after a shaky start and I would happily recommend it.

Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx