Title: The Holiday Party
Series:
Author: Brian Perry
Genre: Adult Literature
Published: April 3, 2015
Publisher: First Edition Design Publishing
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: NetGalley
Synopsis:
“All cops go to Heaven. Cop killers, they go to that other place.” So says the narrator of The Holiday Party, a police officer who has seen his best friend killed in the line of duty.
Six years later…September 11, 2001. Struggling with alcoholism and on the brink of suicide, our hero finds himself buried beneath one hundred stories of concrete and steel. Now, in the midst of unspeakable tragedy, he fights to survive, even as he discovers that his greatest challenge is to escape the wreckage of his past and find hope for a better future.
As his situation grows increasingly desperate, a troubled hero learns those timeless lessons his own father never had the opportunity to teach him: love, forgiveness, and honor. But can he learn the final lesson – that though we cannot change our pasts, we can decide what type of person we want to be today.
A touching reminder of the sacrifices police and their families make, this heartwarming and inspirational book is for anyone that has been through a difficult time, or has regrets, or had faith and lost it. In other words, The Holiday Party is a book for all of us, and one that will stay with you long after you put it down.
Read on for my thoughts on The Holiday Party. No true spoilers, promise.
Most of my reviews have romance in them somewhere. This is not a romance novel. I was moved by the synopsis when I saw it on NetGalley and decided to download it. I’m glad that I did – but understand from the start of this review ~ this is not a romance novel.
There is only the Narrator to take us through this story. First person, everything we read is from the Narrator’s perspective on events and on his own life.
September 11, 2001. A day that those of us who were alive, and living in the United States of America, will never forget and those who have and will come along since will learn about.
The Narrator is a police officer. His story goes back to his own father, who was also a police officer. On to his best friend, also a police officer. And what their lives and deaths did to him to bring him to the day of the Twin Towers falling. All through that day, the Narrator had rushed in and out of the Tower, helping those he could. He heard the first Tower fall and continued on. He, a priest, a rescue dog and another man headed to the Lobby area to be certain that no one was trapped there – when they heard the rumble of the Tower’s collapse.
Trapped. Under tons of rubble. In a small space, these three men and a dog are trapped in a bubble of space and air – with no way out.
The novel continues with conversations between the Narrator and the Priest, and with the Narrator’s dreams of the Christmas Holiday Party house where he encounters such a group of amazing people of history.
I can imagine that your first thought is something along the lines of, “Oh, such a sad story.” But really, it’s not. It is a story of understanding past mistakes, plans for the future and forgiving – even when forgiving is the most difficult thing of all to do. It is an acknowledgement of all of those who serve, no matter how they serve.
And it is in some ways about redemption.
It is an amazingly touching, not sad – poignant, I guess is the word I’m searching for, story you will not soon forget. It will touch your heart, your mind, even perhaps your spirituality. But it will touch you, that I can promise.
*I received an e-ARC of The Holiday Party from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. That does not change what I think of this novel.*
