Here’s the thing that I’ve found happens with me when I’m reading a book that I’m going to review for the site. I think if you look hard enough, you can find something to be critical about in everything. So for this book, for Bigfoot Hunters Never Lie by Kate Thompson, I found a couple things I could point out to critique. There were a couple typos here and there, and I found that it was a little bit of a struggle occasionally to deliver exposition in a way that could be cited later. Like, we mention a specific birthday where a certain thing happened, and then a couple of pages later cite that story for laughs. But how else do you tell stories about your characters that they can reference later that give you some insight into their character? It’s better than I’d be able to do it, I’m sure.
So, I could find things to nitpick about if I wanted. But the truth is that I wasn’t really very interested in nitpicking this book. Bigfoot Hunters Never Lie is a great novel about a man who is living life, and life can be a pretty dramatic experience if you really find yourself in the throes of it. That’s what Noah does– he finds himself in the middle of a really, really tough year, and we get to take his path with him to find out what exactly a Pastor does when he finds himself struggling with his faith, his family, and with what he thinks is wrong and right.
My favorite thing about this book is that Pastor Noah is at the forefront of it and religion is a huge part of his life, but I never felt like I was being preached at. I’m not a religious person in the least, but I really enjoyed watching how Noah navigated his struggle with what God wanted from him and what he wanted from himself, in addition to what his family and the community all expected from him. I think it’s an extraordinary feat to keep someone who isn’t interested in religion intrigued in the lives of people who are so focused on it, but Kate Thompson did it flawlessly. I felt hungry for this novel once I got into it– I was dying to find out what was happening with everyone.
Another of my favorite things was that I didn’t really like any of the characters. And I know that sounds like a negative thing, but I think for people, for all of us, when we’re thrown into situations that bring out our struggles and our flaws, we aren’t always likable, and I felt that way about most of the characters here. They do things that are not admirable and react in ways that aren’t honorable– and that’s a true testament to writing a real person. I know I certainly don’t behave favorably all the time either, and especially when times are as trying as the experiences Noah and his comrades are experiencing in a world where profit is more important than spreading God’s word, and appearances are more important than truly doing things that make your heart happy.
Overall, I’ll give Bigfoot Hunters Never Lie a solid 4.5/5 butterflies. I recommend it to anyone who’s interested in reading about, well. Pretty much anything. There’s not a lot better than being able to be intrigued by another human’s experience.