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The Cure is an intricate, well-written story full of twists and subplots what lead to an unexpected but fulfilling conclusion. Riley Keep is a drunk, but it hasn’t always been that way. Once he was a missionary and preacher, from a small town in Maine. It’s a promise to a friend that brings him back to his old hometown: that they will find the cure for their alcoholism. But when his friend dies, Riley fully gives up hope for the cure that he had probably given up on long ago. To Riley’s surprise, though, the cure finds him, and, as the world comes back into focus, he’s surrounded by old friends and family, who, thankfully, still don’t recognize him. Only his former wife, the town mayor, eventually sees him as he once was. As Riley starts rebuilding his life, he quickly discovers that the cure that saved him is blessing and curse. It leads to a riot that implicates him in a murder, and the rumor of the cure brings more homeless drunks to the town in droves. Everything Riley does with the cure seems to make things worse. Money he eventually makes from its licensing, that, at first glance is the perfect solution, turns out to be even more destructive. Now those who need the cure can’t afford it, and won’t be getting it for a very long time in any case, Riley can’t spend the money he’s “earned” for fear of being discovered as its creator, and his anonymous help to his wife generate rumors of corruption that could cost her her job. Could it get much worse? At first, all of these complications seem to be just “increasing the jeopardy” for the characters, but a second glance shows just how complicated human relationships can be. Everything a person does has unintended consequences, and this more than anything is the theme of The Cure. Perhaps it would have been too much to tackle, but I would have liked to see more development of characters outside their relationship with Riley or the cure. I’m never one to encourage authors to tackle “issues,” since so often it’s completely outside the realm of normal personal relationships. In this case, though, the author passes very little judgment, and indeed makes little comment, on alcohol or alcoholism. Riley’s wife has had a kind of relationship with another man that Riley himself wonders about, but the reader never sees their struggles. Riley’s teenage daughter, who is integral to the plot, seems in many way to be going down the wrong path, raising issues worthy of words and pages they don’t receive. None of this takes away from the quality of the main story, however there are times it feels like characters and the cure itself are just tools the author used to create the conflict he needed. I would have loved to read a version of this book that wound these issues in with the main conflict of the story as well as the various plot elements were. Despite its failings, The Cure remains compelling and entertaining. It’s a mystery filled with hope – a real life kind of adventure story. Even though I love a well developed, character driven book, the artfulness with which Dickson weaves his plot will leave any reader satisfied. Publisher: Bethany House
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