A review by elbowgrip_and_emdash
The Unmade World by Steve Yarbrough

4.0

What I appreciated most about this novel, the second now from this author that I've read, is that it subverts a number of expectations that I initially believed it was setting up—expectations that would have made this novel much more conventional and overall less interesting and special. This is not a murder mystery/criminal procedural, despite mimicking the shape throughout part 2; our main character does not enter into the relationship that we begin to suspect can "save" him from the darkness he's found himself trapped in since the death of wife and daughter; and Richard doesn't, by the end, confront the man whose actions resulted in their death (the fact that he doesn't even recognize Bogdan in that brief moment when he finally lays eyes on him? Perfect). It was refreshing to read a novel that surprised me in these. It was, quite frankly, honest to experience. I started to fear by the end that Richard was going to be delivered his opportunity to confront Bodgan (however contrived this opportunity might have been) but I should have trusted the author more, considering how appreciative I'd been of his handling of the conclusion of part 2.