(Image from Barnes & Noble)

(Note: While this review will not contain spoilers for Miles to Go, it may inadvertently reveal plot surprises from The Walk. As always, I recommend reading books in a series in order.)

After losing his wife, then his business, house, cars and all the other fancy trappings of his formerly successful life, Alan Christoffersen decides to outwalk his grief by hoofing it from his home near Seattle to the beach in Key West, Florida. He's made it to the outskirts of Spokane, Washington—only about 318 miles from home—when he's mugged by a group of teenage thugs. Too injured to resume his journey right away, Alan decides to hunker down in Spokane until he's recovered enough to resume his trek.

Alan's taken in by a kind stranger named Angel, who offers him room and board for as long as he needs it. Although the woman lives up to her name in every way, Alan becomes concerned about the dark depression that settles over her with disturbing frequency. After some strange encounters, Alan realizes how little he actually knows about Angel. It's clear she needs help, but are her problems too big for him to handle? Especially when he's still dealing with his own issues? As Alan tries to figure out what to do about Angel, he also has to make another decision: should he continue with his long walk or stay in Spokane with the people who are fast starting to feel like family.

Since The Walk by Richard Paul Evans failed to impress me, I didn't have a lot of hope for its sequel, Miles to Go. I figured the same things that bugged me about the former would probably bug me about the latter and I was right. Evans' writing was still more tell than show, more sap than substance. His characters remained flat, their relationships so underdeveloped they never felt real. Because of the mysterious Angel, the first half (or so) of the book at least had enough action to be somewhat interesting. Not so for the rest of the novel. All in all, I liked Miles to Go a teensy bit more than The Walk, but, truthfully, I really wasn't wild about either. I've said it before and I'll say it again, inspirational fiction is just not my genre. I want a story, not a sermon.

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Anyway, The Walk concerns 32-year-old Alan Christoffersen, a successful advertising executive who's enjoying the very best life has to offer. He's got a luxurious house, a zippy sports car, a beautiful wife, and a wall full of business honors and awards—all the trappings of a happy life. Or so Alan thinks. When tragedy strikes, his perfect world begans to crumble. As Alan watches everything that's important to him slip away, he becomes so grief-stricken and depressed that he contemplates suicide. Then he does something even crazier: he decides to walk from his home near Seattle all the way to sunny Key West, Florida.

Preachy? Check. Predictable? Check. Ooey-gooey? Check, check, check. The Walk must, therefore, be inspirational fiction at its finest, right? Maybe, but what I found was a whole lot of tell-not-show storytelling, flat characters and underdeveloped relationships. Alan's idea to walk to Florida made no sense to me since he seemed to have no real, concrete motivation to do so. The biggest problem for me, though, was that, while there was enough going on in the beginning of the book to keep the story moving forward, the majority of the novel is spent on the road with Alan. Which would be okay if the details were interesting, but they're just not. Reading about every town he crosses into, every diner he enters, and every meal he inhales gets tedious and boring. I had to drag myself through it, kicking and screaming, until the end, when something exciting finally happened.

Although the book deals with grief, I have to say it is more uplifting than my usual reading fare. It's definitely a feel-good book, so if you like that kind of thing, you'll probably dig this one. But, for me, The Walk was too unrealistic, too saccharine and too preachy. The author, I think, was trying so hard to teach a powerful life lesson that he forgot how effectively that can be done through the subtleties of good storytelling. Which, come to think of it, is my absolute biggest beef with inspirational fiction. So, yeah, while I can appreciate the aim of this genre, I'm still just not a fan.

(Readalikes: The Walk: Miles to Go by Richard Paul Evans

Grade: C

If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG for mild language and sexual innuendo

To the FTC, with love: Another library fine find