The Call by Yannick Murphy

Over the last few years my penchant for reading fiction has diminished greatly. I enjoy history and biography and find that it really is rare for a novel to grab my attention.

I came across this book after reading a blurb on it in a national magazine. Already in paperback I found it quite easily at the library and have found it to be the rare fiction book. This was for me a great book. I currently am reading at least ten different books and am usually pretty strict about alternating. Over the two days I read this however this book was the book I was reading.

The book is simple telling about a large animal vet in a rural town in the mountains. I feel like it is New England but I am not sure if it is ever spelled out. The book has a pace that is unique in that the whole story is told relating to his vet calls and other assorted daily functions. Hence the name The Call.

An accident befells the vet's son and he struggles with how to cope with it. In the end we see him struggle and deal with his anger, we see his family put back together, we see him make a sacrifice and we see his previously injured son give him a lecture on what he would as his son would like to be able to say about his father with pride.

This is as good a novel as I have read in years. Wonderful.