Suspenseful, uncomfortable and with a current of ever-increasing intensity, Adrift is a psychological thriller that will make you anxious and put you on edge in a way that produces a burning desire to speed to the end in order to find out what happens to these characters. Will Dean has delivered another masterfully intense and nervy tale that is disturbing and doesn’t give you a minute of reprieve, yet you cannot look away. Providing the same feeling of dread and impending doom as Dean’s brilliantly haunting The Last Thing to Burn.
Peggy and Drew, along with their 14-year-old son Samson, live on a boat on a canal in middle America. Drew is an aspiring author, trying to find success after winning a writing prize several years ago. Peggy volunteers at the local library and takes care of her family. And while they have little money, Samson attends a prestigious school on scholarship. But all is not well with this family. Drew is domineering and gaslights his family every chance he gets. Peggy is desperate to help her family but thwarted at every turn. And Samson is relentlessly bullied at school. Eventually it all becomes too much, and events spiral out of control. But as the old saying goes: when in hell, keep going.
It's like watching a car crash in slow motion. You know the outcome is going to be bad, you just don’t know exactly how bad it’ll be. So, you keep looking, unable to tear your eyes off the impending carnage. In this case, the car crash is a toxic environment filled with emotional pain in which a violent outcome is all but certain. But there’s a question of who will perpetrate that violence and upon whom. And all the while you’ll hold onto a hope that physical hostilities will be avoided. Knowing in your heart that’s not going to be the case, so transitioning to a hopefulness that the “right” person is the one who gets it in the end.
Adrift is dark, tough, triggering and emotional stuff to read. But it’s also exceptionally crafted and executed. Another fantastic novel by Will Dean. A story you won’t stop thinking about for a long time.
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