I give the first half of this book 3 stars and the second half 5. I enjoyed the central narrative line of When Ghosts Come Home, but it could have been more effective and more consistently engaging at maybe two-thirds of its current length. The long backstories on Colleen and Jay in the first half of the novel, for example, seem ultimately unjustified, at least at the length they were left; while they were good backstories for the writer to have in his head and his notes, I found them tedious. I kept hoping that their presence in the text would be justified in the second half, but I didn’t feel that they were—again, not at the length they were left.

Another problem—sticking with the first half—is that much of the writing feels like a first draft. It’s a well proofread first draft, for the most part, but one awaiting a revision that never came. I don’t consider the writing poor. Instead, it’s too often weak. Consider the repetitive “had” structure of Chapter 2; often only a “had” or two is necessary to lead the reader into the realm of completed action, with another “had” or two to lead the reader back out into the simple past. Here and elsewhere I felt almost hammered with “had.”

At other points, the imagery is first-drafty and could use sharpening.

“When Winston pulled Marie’s car into the otherwise empty gravel parking lot at the airport, the only thing he found waiting for him was a two-door white Datsun with North Carolina plates”; in the moment as the narrative describes it, the lot has two vehicles–Marie’s car and the Datsun–and “otherwise empty” becomes confusing.

“. . . the sound of his footsteps falling silently on the ground beneath him”; “sound” and “silently” don’t work together, and the fact that his footsteps fall on “the ground beneath him” needn’t be stated.

Enough grousing! In the end, I enjoyed this novel. But enjoyment was longer coming than it might have been. The turning point was Winston’s confrontation with Vicki in Chapter 9. I’d heard Mr. Cash talk about this scene, and I felt its importance just hearing about it. The potential for smalltown racial tension—particularly as this exists in places like eastern North Carolina—comes to life in When Ghosts Come Home. Relationships are vividly portrayed throughout. While the very long delay of investigation into Rodney Bellamy’s murder was a bit frustrating, the ending twist provided a shot of redemption on that score.