Swallowing Stones Book Review

I’ve never been in a situation where I had have been asked to lie to the police about hiding a gun because my best friend just shot and killed an innocent man, but novelist Joyce McDonald made me feel like I have. In this book “Swallowing Stones” by Joyce McDonald made me feel as though I have been in Michael’s position and following his every move throughout this whole book.
A suspenseful book about the death of Charlie Ward, Jenna Ward’s father. Jenna and her mother were heartbroken to know that Jenna’s father and her mom’s husband had just died in the blink of an eye. This is the type of book that keeps you on the edge of your seat and you don’t dare put the book down. But it’s also a book that if you doze off for .2 seconds, you’ll miss out on a lot of detailed information. You just have to pay close attention.
Joe is probably my favorite character and the reason I was excited to read Michael’s chapters because Joe stayed true to Michael’s friendship. He was asked to lie about the evidence and fake a crime scene just to protect his best friend. Yes, Joe is an accessory to a murder, but he was risking his life to save his friends. Michael’s chapters are so much more exciting than Jenna’s and they make you want to keep reading.
“Swallowing Stones” is filled with interesting characters like Amy Ruggerio. I say this because she hooked up with Michael while he was in a relationship with Darcy. Besides Joe, Amy was the one person Michael felt comfortable with, despite their little arguments. Michael would go over to Amy’s house because it was the spot where he felt most at home.
There are many themes that go along with this book, but the one that keeps sticking out to me the more I read the book is “Honesty is the best policy”. Being honest and telling the truth is so much better than hiding the evidence, staging a fake crime scene, and risking the people you love lives. I feel like if Michael would have just been honest and truthful, he wouldn’t have had to keep all these secrets. Yes, he probably would have gone to jail for manslaughter, but honestly, he deserved it. He killed an innocent man by making a dumb decision.
“Swallowing Stones” is a suspenseful thriller that I highly recommend reading. The way Joyce McDonald wrote the book, made me feel like I was apart of Michael’s life and I was the one keeping all of his secrets. As I read the book, so many emotions and thoughts swallowed my brain. I loved this book. I highly suggest you give it a read.

One thought on “Swallowing Stones Book Review

Leave a Reply to Logan Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *