(Note: If you have a Kindle, this book is listed as FREE on Amazon until 9/1. Don’t wait to download!)

Raising Jake is a story about a divorced father (Sammy), his 17-year old son (Jake), and their weekend adventure, which changes the course of their lives, and those of the characters they encounter. At the beginning of the story, Sammy is a rather lost, working as a rewriter at the New York Star, not liking his job but feeling trapped by his financial responsibilities—including sending his son to a private school. A phone call from the school one Friday puts the plot in motion as father and son struggle to learn more about each other and their respective childhoods.

The writing is excellent, as is the pacing of the story. The majority of the time, the characters seemed very real, only twice did I find scenes to be a little too over the top…one with Sammy, Danny, and Jake, when they expressed some very deep and seemingly out of character emotions, and the second was toward the end of the book with a flashback conversation between Jake, his mother, and Sammy when Jake was 5. The dialogue seemed too mature and insightful for a 5-year-old (or at least the ones I’ve known). And frankly, you need a pretty healthy suspension of disbelief for all the characters Sammy and Jake meet over their fateful weekend.

Those items mentioned, the book is still excellent. I found the flashbacks added to the book rather than distracting from it. The characters had enough character flaws that they were believable, and the author kept me engaged with the pacing of the action and the unfolding of the stories of the characters’ lives. An important lesson from this book is that it’s never too late to heal from the past and move on.

Carillo is a gifted storyteller and I hope to read more titles by him. Read Raising Jake. It’s time well-spent.