The book that I'm reviewing today is a little bit different from those that I would normally read and review. It's a book called The Hard Times by Russell Scott. This book has a lot going on in it - hunting in Africa, diamond smuggling, life and death situations, and very convoluted relationship issues among the characters.
It's not the kind of book I would usually pick up. However, the author is from Mississippi and portions of the book take place in two towns that I am very familiar with, Meridian and Oxford.
I feel like I need to make an effort to read outside of my book "comfort zone" more often. Being able to do that while also reading the work of a Southern author were what initially made in interested in reading this book (I received a copy from Netgalley to review).
I enjoyed that the book was set in partially in Mississippi, and I found that to be an interesting juxtaposition with the portions that took place in Africa. Writing and style-wise I have few complaints to make about this book.
Although I found it hard to feel attached to the main characters, I think that is probably simply because I felt that I had little in common with them. One is a man who is a doctor and having problems with his marriage and the other is a man living in Africa who is wanted because he has been involved in smuggling and gun running. Very interesting characters, but not the kind I can particularly identify with. Unsurprisingly, I don't think that I was the target audience for the book.
Overall, I can say that the book had a lot of both action and introspection. Even though it's not the type of book that I generally read, I was able to appreciate it.
If you're interested in reading The Hard Times, you can find out more about it on Goodreads or Amazon
.Disclosure: I received a e-copy of this book from Netgalley in order to review it. All opinions are my own, and I received no compensation other than the text itself.
