Griffin Ambrose’s passion is being a volunteer EMT in his New Jersey town. But his paycheck is his full time job across the river in a New York newsroom. The commuting grind, the 24/7 stresses and the push-pull of the two worlds weigh heavily on him. Self-medication is the easy solution until it starts to get in the way of everything that matters. A disastrous ambulance transport, a dead patient and injured responders change everything. His exile from EMS is complete. He loses his job, his home and his privacy. How will he ever come back from this? With the help of a journalist and former patients, redemption is possible, maybe even likely.
Assessment:
Plot/Idea: Wreck and Return offers a fascinating look inside the life of a volunteer EMT. Griffin Ambrose and his coworkers see a lot while they are on the job: everything from funny to tragic to macabre. Despite the richness of the set-up and circumstances, the novel would benefit from additional plot development and a more pronounced through-line.
Prose: The novel's prose is effective in telling the story, without any particular stylistic flourishes. The author convincingly conveys the individual characters' opinions and perspectives, often espousing their short-sighted and bigoted ideology.
Originality: Wreck and Return has an interesting, novel concept, especially in terms of a main character who embarks on something new later in life. Griffin is flawed but not irredeemable, making him a highly relatable character readers will root for.
Character/Execution: Griffin Ambrose appropriately drives the story. Readers will feel deeply for him as he grapples with painful past mistakes and finds the courage to afford himself a second chance. Additional characters in the novel are somewhat uneven in their development; the world of the novel would be much richer if the cast of supporting characters had more dimension.
Date Submitted: April 01, 2024
