Dangerous Day Job

I sank my teeth into ‘The Ferryman’ by Justin Cronin today, and what struck me immediately is that the prose is really good. Its been a while since I read sci-fi by a seriously evocative writer. Cronin uses flowery language in a tasteful way to imbue ordinary moments with extraordinary visual and emotional appeal. Its almost a literary style and it feels old-fashioned. I actually wasn’t certain what time period I was reading until electronics and drones started showing up. I guess that makes sense with the age of the protagonists, who are a bit unusual.

He uses the strength of his prose to tackle a complex subject in the first chapter, wherein a much older couple than is typical adopts a ward who is nearly an adult already. Cronin’s approach makes the rather unusual start appealing a way that’s hard to describe. There are also immediate hints of a deeper issue at hand that lend the following scenes a lot more gravitas. I was a little confused about what happened at the end of the first chapter, especially given that I couldn’t quite tell if the POV had changed for a while at the beginning of the second chapter, but I nevertheless wanted to continue reading. If I could ask for anything, I’d like some names. So far, there’s one character, the young man they adopt, who is only referred to as ‘the boy,’ over and over and over again. It got on my nerves after a few pages. Just saying.

I’m excited to see where this one goes because I can already tell its not my typical read even though its sci-fi. Should be fun!

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley