
The Returned by Jason Mott
The Returned, by Jason Mott, is a solid enough novel, capably told for the most part, but which nonetheless left me feeling unsatisfied in that it seemed like it just didn't quite meet up with its full potential. The premise is pretty simple to sum up: one day the dead start returning, seemingly wholly alive (this is not a zombie novel). While this obviously will have major societal and global ramifications, The Returned is almost exclusively focused on the much more personal impact this mystifying event has on a small town and a handful of people. Its major focus, in fact, is on a single family: Harold and Lucille and their son Jacob, whom they lost years ago at the age of eight. Now he has returned, the same age, though his parents are decades older. In between the chapters relating to events in the town, we get glimpses at other Returned elsewhere in the world.
The family dynamic, and ... Read More