Review: Harbinger by Frank Winter

Review: Harbinger by Frank Winter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Picking up Frank Winter’s Homecoming, I remember being unsure of what to expect. Despite my initial feelings, the story grabbed me relatively quickly and the rest of the narrative was incredibly enjoyable to follow.

I was very excited to continue this story for that reason. And – while I have some issues with this sequel – I see why the story had to go this way. There are issues with it, but it still was an entertaining read and I enjoyed seeing the other side (the living) affected by the bombing.

Anyway, enough with the generalizations. It’s time to dive in.  

Let’s get into it!

Summary

It is ten years after the Villa Vista Bombing, and the survivors are going about their lives. However, the surviving families quickly realize that their tragic pasts may be back to haunt them. When an online cult starts betting on when/how they will die (even killing some survivors), the remaining 262 living must work to bring this online community down. Can they catch the perpetrators before every survivor’s life is claimed?

Thoughts

Now, I admit that I didn’t enjoy this follow-up as much but – at the same time – I see how this is the logical conclusion to the original story. I do not believe there was anywhere else for the story to go, and I did enjoy following the living relatives for a change. At the same time, however, the narrative got a little complicated and I had moments of confusion that I can’t ignore.

I think the main issue is that Winter is trying to do a lot here and, because he is trying to balance so many things, it makes the narrative difficult to follow at first. I’ll get more into how it works when discussing the structure. Thankfully, it did start to improve toward the end, which I really appreciated. This story feels like a natural continuation of the narrative started with the bombing in the first book and getting to know the surviving families more intimately as they try to piece together the reason for the events of the first book was awesome!

Speaking of which, let’s get into some of these characters.

Characters

Chris and Tommy Tidwell

It was interesting seeing more of Blaire’s family in the aftermath of the tragedy. Particularly, getting to know her brothers was awesome. Seeing them interact with each other and the world around them, seeing how they are affected by the tragedy, made both individuals incredibly sympathetic.

I like that Chris took on a position as a special agent. It feels like the natural progression after what he’s been through. Given his profession and the Villa Vista situation, I can see why he cares so much about tying up the loose ends of this case, even if it is a decade after the bombing. Those volcanic nightmares he has also add to just how severely affected he is by the disaster at the high school. He struggles throughout the entire narrative with both his grief and trying to solve the case, making it easy to feel for him.

Tommy is also incredibly sympathetic in a similar way. While he doesn’t have those nightmares, he sees Blaire’s spirit throughout many of his sections, showing that he misses her terribly and cares about her. The fact that in a lot of these scenes she is calling him out for the things he does due to his grief suggests to me that there is some guilt he feels over how he treats his entire family in the aftermath, Chris included. Seeing the two brothers frequently at odds shows how they both struggle to cope with where they are now and how to move forward. Seeing Tommy bury himself in his music career has an element of tragedy to it, because it is clear he is in pain throughout the main narrative over what happened.

Nathaniel Maxwell

Moving on to Nathaniel Maxwell, I like his story quite a bit, too. It – again – feels natural where he ends up going in life after losing his sister and I love that he uses his job in congress to introduce legislation to prevent another tragedy. That said, he is also made a target due to his connections to the situation, and this works to drive up the tension significantly.

There is one scene in the story where he goes to see Tommy’s band perform, and he briefly thinks about how certain political figures were murdered in similar settings to where he is. This helps drive home that his profession can put him in vulnerable situations and how he needs to be on guard.

Finally, before I wrap up his section, I want to briefly discuss his relationship with Jesse. I like that he is given a good friend that genuinely cares for him, and I love that both end up in similar dangerous situations due to their connections with Villa Vista. This allows both characters to have someone to relate to, which was nice to see given that neither of them knows the Tunnikovs or Tidwells all that well. I could see Nathaniel being dangerously lonely if it weren’t for his friendship with Jesse, so seeing their interactions is both heartwarming and rounded out each individual.

Katya Tunnikov

Like Chris Tidwell, seeing Katya take on a job in law enforcement was awesome! I liked seeing how the situation at Villa Vista shaped her decisions and where her story went. I liked seeing the obstacles that got in her way and how it created conflict.

One thing I do want to mention with Katya is how she imagines the Villa Vista Bomber, how they appear to her multiple times throughout the narrative. This narrative choice worked wonderfully in driving up tension, much like Chris’s dreams added tension. Seeing the bomber mock her repeatedly works wonders in not only showing how depraved this individual is, but also in showing how angry Katya still is about the entire situation. Showing anger as one of the elements of grief makes the scene even more realistic and understandable.

Structure

Much like the last story, the structure is set up among many differing viewpoints, all of them connected in some way to the bombing.

This time around, I still had some difficulty following every single perspective, and I think I know why. In this case, we are not confined to the school setting, so there is no set cast of individuals, especially toward the end as the plot starts to wrap up. I understand now, but in the moment when all these perspectives were being juggled, it took me some time to get my bearings.

I talked about pacing in the review of the previous installment, so I should touch on it here, too. I think it is because we are no longer dealing with the setting of the high school, but I did notice pacing issues here. Like I mentioned earlier, I do believe this is because Frank Winter is trying to do so much with this conclusion. Yes, we have how the remaining 262 are being targeted, but we’re also dealing with their grief, their everyday lives after the fact, the ten-year anniversary, and (in the case of some characters) growing up and finding their place in the world after the tragedy.

Because there is so much going on here and so much ground to cover, the pacing drags a bit in certain areas of the story.

I think I mainly felt this way when following Tommy. While his seeing Blaire helped show his grief, I still found myself wondering what was going on with the suicides in the back of my head and when that was going to be talked about again. I am wondering if his sections needed to be a bit shorter to improve the pacing of the story. I do not believe he should have been cut out completely – his perspective is important – but perhaps showing his life in shorter pieces would have helped improve the flow of events.

Writing

Much like the last installment, the writing of this story is great! Winter’s prose makes it very easy to imagine a scene – any scene – and he can transport the reader wherever he wants them to be. The dream/hallucination scenes stand out when it comes to how beautiful his writing is. He excels at painting vivid, imaginative scenes that leave you wanting more!

I also think another thing about his writing that is worth noting is that he does well when working with building suspense. This is shown beautifully whenever we see a member of the online cult do something. Because we have no idea who they are beforehand, the scene revealing them must be built up, and the elements present in each of these scenes work wonders to drive up suspense and intrigue.

Conclusion

All in all, I think this ended up being an enjoyable sequel. While I am not a fan of everything in the narrative, I see how this is the natural conclusion the duology has come to. I loved being able to see the rest of the affected families and how the tragedy at the high school impacted them down the road.

I have often heard it said that there is no end to grief, only changes to it as time passes. I feel like this story illustrates exactly where grief leads all these characters and seeing that journey for each major character is a moving experience.

I would recommend this story for anyone who wants to see what happens to the other major players in the Villa Vista narrative, and I would say I’d really recommend the entire duology to someone who wants a thrilling ride. In the end, this story has delivered a dark, exciting journey that I am very glad I got to experience!