The Illusion of Simple – ARC Book Review

In a dry Kansas riverbed, a troop of young girls finds a human hand. This discovery leads Billy Spire, the tough and broken sheriff of Ewing County, to investigate and confront the depths of his community and of himself: the racism, the dying economy, the lies and truths of friendship, grievances of the past and present, and even his own injured marriage.

But like any town where people still breathe, there is also love and hope and the possibility of redemption. To flyover folks, Ewing County appears nothing more than a handful of empty streets amid crop circles and the meandering, depleted Arkansas River. But the truth of this place—the interwoven lives and stories—is anything but simple.

This was a very good and controversial book. The story starts with a group of girls discovering a human hand and then from then on the story starts. The story is set in the small town of Kansas.

The story is really written in a realistic way of what the life was really like during the 1980s–racism, politics, betrayal of friendships and loyalty, bad economy…it feels like you are thrown back into that time. Though it’s a work of fiction, you actually feel like you are a part of the story. There were some parts of the story that were only boring but then the story soon grew into me. I really like the author’s style of writing and he did a good job of making the story as realistic as possible.

Overall, it was a good book–worth four stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.