Review: Wasted by Nicola Morgan

Synopsis: From Amazon

Jack worships luck and decides his actions by the flip of a coin. No risk is too great if the coin demands it. Luck brings him Jess, a beautiful singer who will change his life. But Jack’s luck is running out, and soon the stakes are high. As chance and choice unravel, the risks of Jack’s game become terrifyingly clear. An evening of heady recklessness, and suddenly a life hangs in the balance, decided by the toss of a coin. In the end, it is the reader who must choose whether to spin that coin and determine: life or death.


Review:

My head is still reeling days after reading this book. I will attempt to be coherent : D

Written in 3rd person narrative. The narrator has a strong and powerful presence. Omniscient within the prose, it provides a clever way in which to reveal different aspects of the plot. At times this can be disjointed as the narrator steps into the story to explore alternate avenues for the plot. I am one of those readers that fully immerse themselves in the storyline, I read as if I am viewing a movie in my head. So for me to take a step back from the main storyline to look at alternative threads with the narrator took some getting used to. I have to say it is a very powerful tool used to its utmost effect within this book. The narrator actually became a character within my imagination.

The protagonists are extremely well developed and easy to relate to. Background details are revealed piece by piece, fitting together like a jigsaw puzzle to reveal the whole picture when the last piece is dropped into place.

Jess has always been in the background, putting other people before herself; especially her alcoholic mother, when it comes to taking control over her life and doing the one thing she loves above all else - music. Then fate/destiny brings Jack into her life, helping bring her out of herself. Showing Jess what the world could be like if she let fate take control of her decisions.

However, Jack is almost OCD in his use of tossing a coin to make decisions. Due to events in his childhood he believes he owes fate if something good happens to him. For every good thing that occurs in his life, he has to tempt fate with the toss of the coin. The more contented he is with his life, the further compelled he is to toss the coin for every single decision.

J always says if he could have a super-power it would be the ability of hindsight followed by time travel in order to alter some of the decisions we have made over the years. Obviously we are looking at the big decisions that we regret and wonder where we would be in our lives now if we had chosen a different path. Yet we do not consider all the little everyday decisions that we make subconsciously that may also alter the way in which our lives will be affected. Even down to which way we turn at the end of the street. It is these little decisions that can also alter the complete course of your life.  Jack's coin game is the most powerful example of how even these little decisions can have huge consequences.

A complex and compelling storyline weaving psychology, quantum physics, philosophy and reality into one. Thought provoking on so many levels. A topic of  much debate in our house. J has now gone off on a tangent about string theory and parallel universes. We are such a cool couple LOL.