Almost Home by Pam Jenoff

Release date: 2009 / 374 pages

Synopsis (from front cover): Ten years ago, American Jordan Weiss’s idyllic experience as a graduate student and coxswain at Cambridge was shattered when her boyfriend and fellow crewmember, Jared Short, drowned in the River Cam the night before the biggest race of the year. Since that time, Jordan, a State Department intelligence officer, has traveled the world on dangerous assignments but has managed to avoid returning to face her painful memories in England. When her terminally ill friend Sarah asks her to come to London, though, Jordan finds herself requestion a transfer to a place she swore she’d never go again.

First line: “I barrel through the double doors and across the lobby of the State Department, bypassing the metal detector and waving my plastic identification badge at the guard, who nods in recognition.”

Review: What a delicious thriller this novel is — even the very first line is exciting!  I do not read many psychological thrillers, and after reading Almost Home I couldn’t help but wonder, “Why not?”  The story follows the journey of a Foreign Service diplomat who has avoided assignments in England due to the death of a college sweetheart.  However, ten years after graduating from Cambridge, she is drawn back to the England at the request of a friend suffering from ALS.  Regarding the plot, that is all I can divulge, but regarding the characterization and sense of place, I have much more to say!

I, too, spent a semester abroad in the city of Cambridge (not studying at the actual university, but at a nearby college) and loved every minute of my time there.  I still remember the grief I felt leaving what had quickly become a home-away-from-home, knowing that future visits would never quite capture the magic of that time.  So, lines like the following really resonated:

“There was always something crisper about the air here, more alive. The sky is different too — it seems closer than at home, a cap pulled low and tight around the brow.”

“The setting sun flickers on the horizon. In my mind I see a girl walking across the field. It is me in my younger years, twenty, or twenty-one maybe, backpack full of library books, flannel shirt untucked. I am speaking to somone I cannot see and my face lifts, breaks open with laughter. And then I know it is not just the pain I have been running from all these years. It is the joy. The memory of a paradise ripped from its roots in an instant, of a joy so breathtaking and so real that is gone, never to be touched again.”

Jordan, too, loved her time at Cambridge and seeing the town through her eyes, ten years later, was truly a gift.  I loved walking the streets with her, visiting well known pubs, the river Cam, and the stately colleges of the university.  Since my time in Cambridge was now twenty years ago, and since Jordan had last visited in the mid 1990′s, I also loved reading about what had changed and what remains the same.  This aspect was an unexpected gift — Jenoff’s love for London and Cambridge is palpable and readers who share this love will be appreciative.  However, even if you have not yet visited England, Jenoff will whet your appetite and have you soon buying a plane ticket.

Regarding the plot, my great hope was that Jenoff was already working on a sequel (she is!).  Her characterization is effortless — somehow we get to know Jordan and the other characters without even realizing this consciously.  Spending future hours with Jordan will be marvelous.  The narration is fast-paced and suspenseful.  Although the hard copy was nearly 400 pages, I devoured the novel quickly and effortlessly, anxious to find answers to the myriad questions posed.  This is also a novel that would lend itself so well to the big screen — the setting, strong characters and gripping plot would be a pleasure to watch.

My only reservation is the same for all books of this genre regarding book clubs.  I think most plot-based narratives do not encourage or sustain much of a discussion.  However, your book club would certainly be happy while reading it!    I look forward to passing this along to another reader — simply leave me a comment below and I’ll choose a winner by Saturday!

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