2016 Spotlight: Lost in Nashville. Neil White.

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Publication Date: Available Now.

Source: Review Copy.

A father and son, the open road, and Johnny Cash.
Number one bestselling ebook author Neil White has penned an emotional journey through the life and songs of Johnny Cash, as told through the eyes of a fictional English lawyer, James Gray, whose life is a success. Or, at least, he thinks it is.
It has something missing though: a bond with his father, Bruce.
Bruce Gray is old, tired and estranged from his family. He spends his time drinking and drifting in the small seaside town in England that James once called home.
James decides to take Bruce on a road trip, to try to connect with his father through the one thing that has always united them: a love for Johnny Cash and his music. Together, they travel through Johnny Cash’s life; where he grew up, the places he sang about – a journey of discovery about Johnny, the South, and each other.

Lost in Nashville then, a bit of a departure for Neil White whose crime novels I have always loved, this time instead of freaking me out he made me cry. CRY dammit.

Lost in Nashville is an emotional read but it is also an informative one in a very entertaining way. I had a very peripheral knowledge of the Johnny Cash story before going into this, afterwards I had a real sense of the man and his music, learning about it through the eyes of our two main characters here, James and Bruce, whilst they try and rebuild their broken relationship.

This is a road trip in more than one sense, an actual journey and a life journey through the lives of these two, a Father and Son who have fallen apart but for whom there is hope. A journey through the life of Johnny Cash and a literal road trip through the places that informed him. Descriptively speaking this is absolutely gorgeous, you’ll get the sense of time and place, you’ll live this one. I love it when I live through a book rather than just read it. Happens less than you might think.

Lost in Nashville is also strangely gripping – I say strangely because being used to this authors twisty crime plots I didn’t imagine that he could also grip emotionally for an entire narrative but that is what happened here. I was rooting for these two, whipping through those pages hoping they could reconcile their differences, all the while being fascinated by the actual journey they were on. At the end I was a bit of an emotional wreck.

As a non country music fan this was entirely brilliant. If you want a different perspective, that of someone who knows the backdrop try Crime Thriller Girl’s review HERE

I fell in love with this story. It is a story of life, of family, of the things that separate us and the things that bring us back together. A beautiful story, an intensely emotive one and a story that will stay with me.

Who would have thought it? I think the indomitable Mr White might want to consider writing a few more like this in those moments between. He’s got the magic touch.

Read it, live it, love it.

Highly Recommended.

You can Purchase Lost in Nashville HERE

Visit Neil at his website HERE

Try some of his top crime fiction

Or follow on Twitter HERE

Happy Reading!

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