Fourteen months after the rescue of their young daughter from traffickers, Curt and Phoenix Martinsen have been laser-focused on healing Rose’s inner wounds, to the exclusion of all else. As they enter into Easter Week and their highly anticipated spring break, the couple looks forward not only to quality time with their daughter, but also seek to carve out some long-overdue time to reconnect with each other. One last errand stands in the way of that, however, during which a chance encounter and random act of kindness immediately plunges them into an illusory world in the making long before this moment. When Phoenix, in turn, comes face to face with a life-and-death scenario, she battles those who people this world, determined to save her family before the odds favor her no more. In this third installment of the gripping Phoenix series, award-winning author Jafe Danbury shines a light on the myriad ways in which survivors come to grips with their ordeals and the environments in which they do it.
"A fast-paced page-turner with sequences that are the stuff of great cinema."
Assessment:
Plot/Idea: Danbury's plot centers on a family still recovering from their daughter's kidnapping as they face yet another crisis—the father, Curt, is drugged and kidnapped by a dangerous woman struggling with mental illness. The setup is promising and the action builds incrementally.
Prose: The prose is clear and straightforward, and the story is delivered with a crisp approach that establishes a satisfying tension.
Originality: The novel's antagonist is both believable and chilling, with an interior monologue that skillfully constructs her mental health issues without falling into caricature. That characterization makes the novel stand out and adds to its edginess.
Character/Execution: Danbury crafts well-developed characters with distinctive motivations, and the antagonist's interiority is brilliantly delivered, allowing readers to glimpse her inner thoughts and emotions laced into her past trauma.
Date Submitted: August 15, 2024
A tale of immense resilience, this novel offers a look at the lengths people will go to protect their loved ones—and how seemingly minor decisions can dramatically alter lives. When Tempest, a woman driven by childhood trauma and mental illness, drugs Curtis at a local bar and kidnaps him, Danbury reveals her motivations in chilling snapshots that hint at twisted logic and a desperate grab at revenge for her past abuse. The story unfolds from multiple perspectives, and Tempest emerges from those as an exceedingly dangerous, broken human—a skilled killer with a photographic memory and untreated personality disorder. Readers will find themselves teetering between hatred and sympathy for her.
Danbury delivers a crisp timeline here—the story’s events take place over merely one week’s time period, moving from warm Arizona homes to imposing mountain ranges—and the pace is electric, keeping readers guessing with a simple but powerful narrative style that builds dramatic tension without embellishment. Added to that is the novel’s nuanced view of mental illness, making this high-impact story truly compelling. So Much Forever can function as a standalone, but its charged suspense will undoubtedly compel new readers to return for the rest of the series.
Takeaway: Tense thriller that contemplates mental illness, family, and resilience.
Comparable Titles: Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen’s The Wife Between Us, Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B+
Marketing copy: A
