Indie Author Review: Davey's Savior

The more independent authors I meet, the more I realize just how diverse yet wonderfully alike we all are.  No matter what the genre, no matter what our involvement in social media, our politics, our personal lives ... we all have stories to tell which we are incredibly passionate about.   When an author's passion combines with a long-simmering desire to share those stories, the results often touch the heart: and Timothy Savage's debut, Davey's Savior, is no exception.

(Avila Beach: Image courtesy of California Coastal Real Estate.)

The eponymous Davey is a four-year-old growing up in Avila Beach with his single father, Sketch: and from the first chapter, we know they have secrets they are keeping from the community.  Sketch goes out of his way to keep a low profile: it becomes clear fast that no one in Avila actually knows his full name.  Davey's curious and outgoing nature is a dangerous counterpoint to this secrecy, and secrets begin to come to light when a whale shark is found washed up on the beach.  
The owner of the local coffee shop, Anthony, is convinced that a blemish on the carcass looks like the face of Christ, and manages to make a photo of it go viral, drawing more and more people to the town.  Among the visitors are a trio of Mexican nuns on a pilgrimage and a marine biologist, each with their own problems and challenges to face.  As Davey and Sketch's secrets come to light, every one of them comes together in a climax I did not  expect.

The novel starts out at a slow burn: Savage makes it very plain that Sketch and Davey have things to hide... big, potentially dangerous things.  Aside from the discovery of the whale shark, this is the major thrust of the first third of the book.  I admit that at first, I was frustrated by how much The Secret was dangled in front of my face: how often Sketch would fret and worry and obscure, despite any further clues to what he was hiding.  I was so preoccupied with this that I missed the artful, tiny clues peppered throughout the story which foretold the climactic moments of the book.  In retrospect, then, my frustration was negated, and I feel like I owe Tim Savage an apology for judging him a little in "stringing me along".   What he did with his story is masterful: not just in its obfuscation of the plot twist, but in completely leading this reader in one direction at first, and then turning my expectations upside down in terms of theme, as well.   

There were a few rough patches: notably the text conversations of Kendra, the marine biologist,  which were a little jarring next to the prose, and some of the build-up between the whale shark's arrival and the furthering of the plot.  But for those willing to forgive the novel its flaws, it has a fine reward.  

When Anthony first hatches his plan to draw in customers through the miracle of the whale shark, readers may assume - as I did - that the titular Savior was meant to be Jesus Christ, and that the novel was about to take a heavily religious turn.  The trio of nuns reinforced this ... but each character's own personal challenges eventually make it clear that this is not a novel about the saving power of Christianity, but the role of any form of faith in life.   By setting the reader up and then dropping his twists and turns, Tim Savage makes them think right along with the characters ... connecting them to the book even more deeply.   The book I found so slow to start was impossible to put down by the time I reached its second half.   Davey's Savior is the literary equivalent of a log flume ride: you drift along for most of it, but the climb and the plunge at the end are so satisfying that you'll end up wanting to go again.  

You can ​get your own copy of Davey's Savior here on Amazon.  Tim Savage can be found most often on Twitter, and occasionally at his blog, Extemporalia.  

I hope you've enjoyed my two cents this week, and that you'll join me again next Wednesday for whatever the moment brings!  
​Until next time, I remain your hostess,

---