Nine-year-old Jimmy gets to choose where he and his parents, Hank and Alice, are going to spend their vacation. Jimmy wants to go fishing. This will be a fishing trip that none of them will ever forget.
Alice is a schoolteacher, a very popular teacher who is loved by her students. Since she isn't really an outdoors person, she is none too thrilled abouther son's choice of a vacation. It is his birthday though, and she decides to be a good sport for him and try to enjoy the time with her family.
There are four Burne brothers. They are all criminals. Three of them are free, and one of them is in jail. The jailed brother is busted out of jail by the other three, and they head to the same island where Hank, Alice, and Jimmy have gone for vacation. There are also a few other guests on this island.
Alice is in the bathroom when the Burne brothers burst into the cabin where all the guests are. They have no clue that Alice is there, and she manages to sneak out of the cabin. Much to her horror, when she looks back through the window, she sees a gun being pointed at her son's head. I won't go into any details here, but things get really fast paced and exciting now. This mild mannered schoolteacher who really didn’t want to go on the trip, who does not like outdoor stuff, who doesn’t know how to fight or defend herself, and who has never fired a gun, manages to kill three of the four brothers. She knows that the surviving brother is still out there, and she knows that he is going to come after her.
The media will not leave them alone. But when there is a shooting across town, and the media finally leave their house, Alice becomes extremely uncomfortable. Now he will come after them. Jimmy goes back to school, and Hank goes back to work. Alice does not. She hardly eats or sleeps. Only when she literally collapses from exhaustion does she get any sleep, and even then it is never for very long.
Everyone around her thinks that she is losing her sanity. The police have even told her that Ben Burne died in a cabin fire up in Canada. They assure her that he is dead, but she doesn’t believe them.
There were times I wanted to pull her husband out of the book and smack him. He needed to believe what his wife said. Then there were times I wanted to tell Alice to get a grip and get on with her life. I was never completely sure if she was right to be so vigilant about watching out for Ben Burne’s return, or if her husband was right when he wanted her to go on medication and get help.
I’m not going to say if Alice was right or not, but I will say that the author did a fantastic job with this psychological thriller. It was impossible for me to put down, so I read through it in less than a day. The ending was extremely satisfactory, although I was rather sad the book was over.
This wonderful book was a gift from a friend. If you would like your own copy of Primal to read and enjoy, I have provided an Amazon link below for you.
