SWEETNESS AND LIGHT by Liam Pieper

This certainly left a punch. Devastating ending which prompted me to slam the book shut and throw it aside. At which point I hated this book. But, on reflection some days later, the fact that I had a such a reaction to it shows how outstandingly well written it is, and what an absolute master the author is in his writing.

There are number of clues right from the beginning that lend this story a very dark undertone. Firstly, it is set in the morally ambiguous country of India, where nothing is at it seems. Secondly, the lead character, an Australian man called Connor is beginning to scrape at the underbelly of his own immoral existence to simply survive. Thirdly, Sasha, an American woman has come to India for a stay at a famous ashram, searching for spiritual enlightenment, exhausted with her life. Anyone who has spent time in India will know the advertising is better than the actual experience. The only American woman we know who has found meaning and benefited from the Indian experience is the Eat Pray Love lady who managed to throw Bali and Italy into the mix as well - you are bound to find your own version of paradise in amongst that mix.

The beaches of Goa are the opening setting, where Connor is a grifter working for the local successful 'businessman', scamming tourists - mostly women, and running dive charters. No longer a young man, his mind and body ravaged by his seedy grim life style, and an abusive childhood, he is fast becoming too old for this game. One of his dive charters goes terribly wrong, forcing him to take drastic measures to save himself. By chance he meets Sasha and an interesting vaguely promising romance begins to unfold.

In a nutshell, Sasha is a good person, kind, hard working, somewhat naive. Connor wants to be a good person, deep inside himself he is, Sasha is making him see this. But no, it is not meant to be. Then that ending..... The author makes the reader like these characters, we are rooting for them, hoping and wanting it to all work out. We are engaged and involved with Sasha and Connor, what makes them tick, the progress of their romance, if you can even call it that. There is some hope here that maybe things will turn out well for both of them. But no.... and so good nevertheless.