Walking on Water by Richard Paul Evans

 

"I had always thought of my walk as an escape from the past, but now I could see that it was also an escape from my future---a future that I wasn't any more prepared for now than I had been when I first set foot outside my house in Seattle.

Would I ever be ready? Could one really ever be ready for the unknown? If the road has taught me one thing for certain, it is this---one never knows who or what the next mile will bring."

     -from the diary of Alan Christoffersen

Finishing this novel was bittersweet---I was happy to get Alan to Key West but sad to have finished the last book of The Walk series. No more to look forward to although I know Evans has other books to check out and I probably will. This one I will rate a 4, a bit lower than the others and I will tell you why.

At the end of book 4, Alan receives word that his father has had a heart attack in California so at the beginning of this 5th installment he flies to LA to be with him. Fully half this novel takes place there as Alan ministers to his father, finds and reads a family history he has been writing and receives instructions for his end-of-life. His friend Nicole reenters his life and is emotional support for him. I think this part of the book is interesting but not as compelling as his on-the-road narratives in which he meets such interesting characters. Thus a 4 rating.

The last half of the book was more interesting with Alan's Florida walk reaching several very familiar places---St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Kennedy Space Center and eventually the Keys. He spotted a tiny key deer in Big Pine Key where we had seen them when we visited years ago. He finally reaches Key West, the farthest point, where friends Nicole and Kailamai are waiting to celebrate with him. I hope this isn't a spoiler; I believe the reader expects him to reach his destination at the end of the series. A surprise awaits which I will NOT reveal.