I totally have to share this.

I just finished the most remarkable book, Descent, by Tim Johnston. It’s literary fiction, and the writing is so lovely you’ll want to savor it in your mouth.

The premise of the book: An 18-year-old girl goes off running in the mountains with her 15-year-old brother, and she’s abducted.

The beauty of the book is how it concentrates on the impact to her family. The middle-to-ending is so riveting that I stayed up almost all night last night; I literary could not stop reading. I cried at the end, too, sobbed in that good way that one always sobs over a particularly good book.

What is so beautiful is the redemption, which I won’t state, since it would ruin the plot. But it comes from the most unexpected yet best of places.

The only negative is that Johnston often uses “the boy” and “the man” to refer to the brother and father (umm, why?), and after a bit this drove me crazy. It’s so Cormac McCarthy, and I’ve never much liked Cormac McCarthy. Still, it’s a minor point.

I highly (highly!) recommend giving Descent a read.