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After thinking about it overnight, Thomas Strongtree, a retired woodworker, decides to return to the flea market and buy the folder full of fingerprint cards with mugshots and personal details he can’t stop thinking about. They are all twenty to thirty years old. The records don’t say anything about the charges these mostly teenage kids faced, but the fact that they are in such a public place piques Strongtree’s interest. He was never one to break the rules and begins to wonder what happened to all these kids who did break the rules. Strongtree dismisses the advice from a lawyer who told him not to go down this rabbit hole and hires a private investigator to find out where these people are now. He learns that a few of them have passed away but gets contact information on the group. Strongtree feels a strong pull to learn about these people's lives and will find himself surprised by the common connection these people share and moved by their personal stories.
Readers will immediately place this book on the same section of the shelf as books like Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet In Heaven and Tuesdays With Morrie. Both authors present an optimistic view of life where the challenges are overcome, and individuals can create lasting and positive changes in the people they encounter. Small kindnesses result in fundamental changes in behavior and life’s path, eventually leading to great success in life. Martin ties his stories to biblical parables featuring well-known characters, such as the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, and the Woman at the Well. He leans heavily into biblical stories but does this without being heavy-handed. That is a remarkable feat. Martin does a great job of not being too apparent in his correlations to biblical stories and manages to have his characters appear with universal flaws and challenges.
Martin displays an inborn ability to write relatable stories about his characters. His prose is clean, and the dialogue is fluid and effortless. This book can easily be read by anyone who has no particular leaning toward religion and can still be enjoyed through the stories given. The author is adept at creating tales where there is always a little bit of information the reader wants but is not told until the end of the story. The book brings back the relationship between Kristin Hanna’s The Nightingale and Anthony Doerr’s All The Light We Cannot See. Both are excellent books and give the reader an insight into the everyday lives of people who just wanted to survive WWII. Hanna turns her tragedies into triumphs and leaves the reader with hope and optimism. Doerr does not give all his characters happy endings, but the story itself graces the reader with a more realistic and believable outcome that some may find hopeful because of its realism. Martin's book leans into everyone ending up happy and extremely successful. This is an optimistic and hopeful read and will likely be enjoyed by many readers, especially those who enjoy inspiring stories.