Jack Armstrong is terminally ill, although we aren't told what he's suffering from. He's a former US marine, he's married and has 3 children. He's done his best to prepare his children for his death but is aware that, although he's been a good provider, he hasn't been the best husband or Dad in the world.
Jack expects to die within hours, certainly no more than a day or so, when tragedy strikes on Christmas Eve. His wife is killed in a car crash. But, sometimes, in the wake of tragedy, miracles happen and Jack finds himself being pulled back from the brink of death. Again, we aren't given any explanation as to why or how.
After months of recovering his strength, Jack is reunited with his children, scattered to the care of relatives as he lay at death's door. Over summer months on the coast of South Carolina, Jack and his children learn to live and love again as a family and Jack learns to be the father he always wanted to be, but never knew how to be.
This story occasionally descends into mawkishness, which I found too cloying. It often relies on asking the reader to suspend a natural questioning attitude, such as "What is Jack's illness" and "How come he can go into remission so suddenly when he's so close to death? and more" There are too many convenient devices in the writing, such as Jack's friend Sammy, and it's so predictable it's almost laughable.
I picked up this book because it was marked "the Number One International Best Seller" and is published by panmacmillan. I'm afraid I found it more suited to Mills and Boon. I think I'll give David Baldacci a miss. Not my thing.
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