Title: What Beauty There Is

Author: Cory Anderson

Publication Date: 8 April 2021

Genre: Thriller

Publisher: Penguin

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

I would like to thank Penguin and The Write Reads for an early proof copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to preface this review with ‘I am not a reader of thriller books’… usually. I usually steer clear of the thriller genre, either because I find them very cliché or because I just don’t enjoy being held on tenterhooks throughout a reading experience. However, this book really blew me away. There was so much more to this book than the mystery and the thrill. It was heartbreaking and heart wrenching and I was definitely crying by the end, but it was a good cry. I really enjoyed this book in the end.

When everything you love is in danger, how long can you keep running to survive?

Life can be brutal
Winter in Idaho. The sky is dark. It is cold enough to crack bones.

Jack knew it
Jack Dahl has nothing left. Except his younger brother, Matty, who he’d die for. Their mother is gone, and their funds are quickly dwindling, Jack needs to make a choice: lose his brother to foster care, or find the drug money that sent his father to prison.

So did I
Ava lives in isolation, a life of silence. For seventeen years her father, a merciless man, has controlled her fate. He has taught her to love no one.

Did I feel the flutter of wings when Jack and I met? Did I sense the coming tornado?
But now Ava wants to break the rules – to let Jack in and open her heart. Then she discovers that Jack and her father are stalking the same money, and suddenly Ava is faced with a terrible choice: remain silent or speak out and help the brothers survive.

Looking back, I think I did . . .

Perfect for fans of Patrick Ness, Meg Rosoff and Daniel Woodrell, What Beauty There Is an unforgettable debut novel that is as compulsive as it is beautiful, and unflinchingly explores the power of determination, survival and love.

The World

For a book that is set in the real world I wouldn’t normally have that much, if anything, to say about the world building. I usually focus more on world building in fantasy or sci-fi books. However, in this book, the world and the setting played such an important role in the story. Anderson uses the weather and open spaces and burnt down houses and snowy abandoned places to set the tone and the feeling for most of the book. It was as if the setting itself was a kind of character that shifted and changed with the characters and their stories.

The Characters

There are quite a few characters in this novel, which surprised me, but I’m only going to talk about two: Jack and Ava.

Jack Dahl:

Jack is the main protagonist of this story. Even when we see things from Ava’s point of view, or the point of view of another character, the focus is always on Jack. Jack cares, that’s one of the first things that stood out to me about his character. He cares about his family, and in particular his younger brother Matty. He spends most of the book making decisions to protect his brother and to make sure his brother is safe and cared for. He’s a great protagonist for a story like this because he doesn’t feel cold or detached, he feels like a real person.

Ava:

Ava is the other protagonist of the story. The story is really about the collision between Jack and Ava and their parents, as both of their parents were involved in a crime years before the book starts and Ava’s dad wants the money that Jack’s dad stole. It took me a couple of chapters to realise that each chapter starts with a first person POV moment from Ava, looking back on the events of the book. This was a really cool way to get to know her character as without these she is just a bit of a mystery in the main story.

The Plot

On the surface, the plot of this book is simple. Jack’s mother commits suicide at the start of the book and to try and protect and save his younger brother Matty, Jack decides to search for the money he knows his dad stole years before. This gets him in a lot of trouble. But, there is so much more to the story than that.

This is a story that really explores both Jack’s story as he tries to find the money, but also things like trust, love, human connection. The writing was gorgeous once I got used to it, and so immersive. I really enjoyed reading it.

Why It Was a 4-Star Read for Me

Honestly, because I was confused at first. The way the story is told (in third person narrative chapters) meant it took me a little bit of time to figure out whose point of view I was reading from in the beginning. There was a lot of information given without background info. that made me have to re-read chapters to see if I had missed anything. Once I got used to the writing style I actually really enjoyed it because the writing itself is beautiful and the characters are so relatable and human. It just took me a while to get there.

The only other reason is the ending. I won’t spoil it, but… I was kind of confused. I don’t know if that was deliberate or not, but I’m not a fan of ambiguous endings like this one. I kind of hope there is a second book so that the ending can be explained.

What I would say about this book (which is not a reason that it was a 4-star read for me) is that there are a lot of trigger warnings you should be aware of before reading it. There’s suicide, murder, drug dealing, torture (of a kind), violence and stalking. Despite all of these, I think they are really well handled in the book and written very well and I would still highly recommend this book, especially if you love thrillers.

Until next time… Keep Reading!

About the Author 

Cory Anderson is a winner of the League of Utah Writers Young Adult Novel Award and Grand Prize in the Storymakers Conference First Chapter Contest. She lives in Utah with her family. What Beauty There Is is her debut novel.

Instagram: @coryanderwrites

Twitter: @coryanderwrites

Author website: https://coryanderson.us/