Book Review: The Reckoning of Noah Shaw

Goodreads Overview: 

Noah Shaw confesses all in this second novel of a chilling new companion series to Michelle Hodkin’s New York Timesbestselling Mara Dyer trilogy!

Noah Shaw doesn’t think he needs his father’s inheritance.
He does.

Noah believes there’s something off about the suicides in his visions.
There is.

Noah is convinced that he still knows the real Mara Dyer.
He does not. 

Everyone thought the nightmare had ended with Mara Dyer’s memoirs, but it was only the beginning. As old skeletons are laid bare, alliances will be tested, hearts will be broken, and no one will be left unscarred. 

Jacque's Review:

As I have said before, you really need to read the Mara Dyer series before beginning the Shaw Confessions series.  Readers would be at a complete loss without the knowledge gained in the Mara Dyer books.

In this installment, Noah and his friend Goose are being led on a quest by Mara's grandmother across England.  Mara is not in this book, with the exception of a very brief appearance at the very end, which is a lead in to the next book.

We aren't sure what the grandmother's motives are exactly or who's side everyone is really on, but the ultimate goal is apparently to save Mara.  How Noah is supposed to do that is not exactly clear. Noah has to dig deep into his family history to find the clues he needs.  There are some flashbacks to some of Noah's ancestor's memories, which Noah seems to witness as if they were his own memories.  This is explained because the apparent memories are passed down from generation to generation along with the gift. 

This book was a bit different for me.  Noah Shaw is one of my all time favorite characters, but he is not the same person he was in the Mara Dyer series or the first book in the Shaw Confessions. Without his gift, he can feel the effects of his vices and seemed to be drunk the better part of this novel. Gone was the confident, witty, and charming boy I loved. We can see the struggles he is going through to save the girl he loves, but it is clearly at his own detriment.  Hopefully the old Noah will return in the next book in this series or I'm not sure it will be worth reading.