The Release of Jonathan Flite by Matthew J Beier

 The Release of Jonathan Flite is a novel that’s hard to place as it falls into the realm of time travel, psychic abilities, action, and “fitting in.” This is the second in the series and I wish I had read the first as it was difficult to pick up what was going on seeing as there were so many characters.

 

Jonathan has the memories of seven children who all disappeared in Idle County ten years before he was born. Everyone thinks he is crazy, and now, on the cusp of his 18^th birthday, he is being released from the centre where he was kept for the murder he committed. The memories come and go, and it’s as if he was right there at the time when things happened to the seven. With parallels being drawn between the memories and a nuclear terrorist attack the previous year, things are beginning to be taken more seriously than before.

 

Jonathan will be faced with a divided public when he gets out – some will believe him, and others will fear him due to the religious and scientific implications of the actual memories. Memories that could have consequences for the company that seems to be behind so many things that are “good for the world” yet…  

 

On my second readthrough, I appreciated the book more. Initially, I had found it fascinating to start, then it hit a patch that made me slow my reading and I got confused, and then it speeded up again. There are so many character dynamics in the story and to be reminded of the angst felt when younger about fitting in to the world, it brought memories back to me too (just not the memories of the IC7 though).

 

I found the book dealt with a lot of different issues in a very open way, and covered things like bullying, homosexuality, blended families, feeling alone, where you fit in in your family, and different takes on religion. The characters came across on the page as so “real” that you could feel the emotions as they felt them. As the story progressed, you were fed bits of info that felt like they didn’t connect, and then all of a sudden, you’d realise where they fitted and it would be an aha moment. I liked that the book concentrated on certain characters and I think the same thing will happen in subsequent ones so that each main character has their own story.

 

The writing was very fluid, and the chapters being divided up between timelines didn’t interfere with the comfortable flow of reading. The chapters labelled with the infinity sign helped to join it all up.

I look forward to seeing how the characters progress in the next instalment (yes, I have it!) and where this journey is taking us.

 

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to review the book.