[Took me a little while to read this, because the DRC was in a format I couldn't read. I bought the novel and have finally read it.]

BE READY FOR THE LIGHTNING is an interesting, well-written novel about siblings and familial relationships and connections. Veda, the protagonist, is a success and relatively content woman in her 30s. Her brother, however, has rage issues, and after Veda is hurt during one of Conrad's fights, she decides she needs to take some time and create some distance between her and her brother. Too long has she been trying to help and manage his issues, and she just needs a break. However, shortly after arriving in New York, a bus she takes is hijacked...

The novel is well-written, and populated by some interesting and well-drawn characters. Despite the premise, it's not a thriller. Rather, it's a character study - and it's a pretty good one, too. I enjoyed it, and look forward to reading more by Grace O'Connell.

Recommended.

<p>Oh my. There is a <b>lot</b> packed into this little book. I mean a lot. Two books, three books, worth of interactions and plots and conversations and reasons and fiction-thingies that make books books and not real life. We have a brother with anger issues. We have immigrant parents. We have random violence unrelated to the brother with anger issues. We have high school friends staying friends forever (which I guess happens. I still talk to, at best we'll say 0.75 of a person of my high school friends, but I suppose there are other people who stay close to those they knew as teenagers. Me: I prefer to remove all reminders of adolescence, including, but not limited to, people, places, and things). We have weddings. We have break-ups. We have stalker-ish, suicidal sisters with power-of-attorney forms. We have a suitcase of a book with the zipper popping open and staying closed only with the help of a huge roll of duct tape.</p>

<p>Maybe all of everything in <A href="https://www.librarything.com/work/19833415/book/159643087">Be Ready for the Lightning</a> happened somewhere to someone, because it has that feeling of <i>truth being stranger/more fantastical than fiction</i>. At a micro-level, each of the bits works, but <A href="https://www.librarything.com/work/19833415/book/159643087">Be Ready for the Lightning</a> often feels like too much of a good thing. A black hole collapsing in on itself. I feel weighed down after reading.</p>

<p><A href="https://www.librarything.com/work/19833415/book/159643087">Be Ready for the Lightning</a> by Grace O'Connell went on sale June 6, 2017.</p>

<p><small>I received a copy free from <a href="https://www.netgalley.com/">Netgalley</a> in exchange for an honest review.</small></p>

We need more Grace! I would buy this book for friends.

I was interested in reading this book because of the subject matter; specifically the idea of hostages on a bus. The problem for me was I found the scene cuts between the hostage situation and one of the hostages having flashbacks to before the incident a bit jarring and distracting.

Be Ready for the Lightning is a fascinating story about a hostage situation on a New York City bus, as experienced by a young woman named Veda, and the long-lasting connection she feels for her attacker. The novel is punctuated by this extreme event, but it is also a close-up look at Veda’s life before and after the incident, and her complicated relationship with her brother Conrad and their childhood friends.

Veda and Conrad grew up in Vancouver with loving parents and a close-knit group of friends, including Conrad’s best friend Ted, and siblings Annie and Al. Veda always had a crush on Ted, but it is not until he returns to Vancouver in their early twenties that they begin a relationship, which is plagued by Ted’s excessive drinking. Veda and Conrad had always been very close as children, but Conrad’s violent tendencies – possibly caused by a childhood head injury – are increasingly out of control. When Veda is injured as a bystander to one of Conrad’s bar fights, she decides it’s time for a fresh start.

She ends things with Ted and leaves her career as an audiologist to move to Manhattan and stay with Al and his new wife Marie. While out looking for an apartment and exploring the city, Veda gets on a bus that ends up changing her life. The bus is hijacked by a mentally unstable man named Peter who is obsessed with Peter Pan and thinks he can “save” the passengers by shooting them and taking them to Neverland with him.

We do not know the complete outcome of the hostage situation until the last line of the novel, as it is interspersed with Veda’s backstory in Vancouver. The two timelines gradually merge, until we are able to see the aftermath of the shocking, unpredictable incident and its ongoing effects on Veda and the people who love her. Although this dramatic event is at the centre of the novel, it is most of all a character study, exploring the relationships between siblings and the bonds of childhood friends.

The literary connection to Peter Pan can be found in more than just Peter’s love for the story – it can also be found in the siblings’ history of living with secrets, and refusing to grow up. Veda is able to connect with Peter because of her own unstable brother, although Conrad is troubled in a very different way. Veda loves unconditionally, not only Conrad but Ted too, and her obsession with Peter becomes yet another unhealthy relationship filled with misplaced loyalty. There is much to explore in this novel, and the depth of character is impressive. I really enjoyed the tight balance of thriller and psychological character study, and I will certainly read more by Grace O’Connell.

I received this book from Random House Canada and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3+ stars. I'm having a bit of trouble rating Be Ready for the Lightning. Compared to the previous book I read by Grace O'Connell -- Magnified World -- it is much better. O'Connell has matured as a writer. He writing is stronger and her characters are more believable. Also, I liked what I saw as the main theme -- the challenging love between two siblings. And O'Connell handled the two timelines in an interesting way, slowly bringing them together by the end. But, still, the reading experience fell a bit flat for me. It's well constructed, but I didn't always feel particularly engaged. The story is told by Veda, and focuses on five childhood friends, including her brother Conrad. Veda recalls her adolescence and early adulthood, while in parallel she tells readers about her experience as a hostage on a bus in New York City. Don't read this story for mystery or suspense. It's much more in the nature of a character study. As I say, it has real strengths, but I didn't love it. The backstory between the childhood friends felt a bit too pat, like something I had read many times before, with the exception of Veda's relationship with her flawed brother Conrad. But I liked it enough to want to see what O'Connell does next. I'm always willing to give you Canadian authors a chance, and I think O'Connell shows real promise. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

Intrigued by the title and the cover, I was absolutely blown away by the prologue which happens to begin with our main protagonist, Veda, and other people being taken hostage by a man styling himself like Peter Pan(not dressing like him, but making the literary connections). But the chapters alternate and take readers on the before and after of the events that will unfold on that bus. This did frustrate me a bit because I was fixated on the present and I grew impatient to know why the past could be so relevant to what was actually happening on that bus.

There were so many unhealthy relationships in this book that it's actually hard to choose which one was the worst. It really created an unsettling atmosphere throughout the book and I certainly was hoping/anticipating some type of twists and when it came- it was totally anti-climatic. Why do I say this? Well, the book dragged quite a bit and I was left asking myself "what was it all about?" Personally, Be Ready for the Lightning was just an okayish read for me.

Veda's life changes when she is trapped on a hijacked bus in New York City. She reflects on her life growing up in Vancouver. Her brother got into many fights. She blames herself for starting them because his first fight was to defend her. Veda would always look after him following these fights, until she gets involved herself. Then she decides to leave Vancouver and get a fresh start in New York. She never expected it would lead to this hostage situation. Veda has to use a strength that she didn't know she had to get off the bus.

This story is very character driven. It follows Veda's life before and after the hostage situation. Each of the eight parts of the book begins with a chapter about Veda's time on the bus.

Usually I prefer plot-driven novels but I liked this one. It kept returning to the life changing moment in Veda's life when she was trapped on the bus. I kept expecting something very dramatic to happen, but when there was a major plot twist, it was soon resolved. The "lightning" wasn't as big a flash as I thought it would be. However, I liked the image of lightning and how it kept coming back up in the story.

This is a good story and it's very well written!

This review will be posted on my blog on June 8, 2017.

Wonderful new fiction set on the west coast of Canada. Impressive story line held me captive until the final page!

Be Ready for the Lightning by Grace O'Connell is a work of fiction.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Second, I must confess that this is not my normal genre, so although my rating may not be high, I know the majority of people will eat this one up. The three stars that I give this book is solely for the prose. O'Connell is a really good writer.

I did, however, have a problem with the actual plot. It told the story of Veda, a young woman from Vancouver, who is held hostage on a bus in New York, and whose bravery saves the day. It alternates between Veda's life before and after the event. It is a tale of friendship, love, family and bravery. It is also a story of mental health issues, violence, lies and deceit. Unfortunately, as good as this plot sounds, I felt it missed the mark. There was no excitement, no suspense. I actually liked the character of her brother Conrad more than Veda. He had substance, and I could have read a book about him! This book became a very long read, because I kept waiting for something to happen.

Again, I really enjoyed the writing. It was crisp, clean, and her characters were quite deep (if a bit boring). Her imagery was wonderful. That and the fact that the author is Canadian, earned Grace O'Connell the 3 stars.

Now, I know there will be a lot of others who find this book thrilling, so please, give it a chance. These are only my opinions, and they really only matter to me!

This was an interesting story. I enjoyed the back and forth in time and storyline. Some of the characters, Like Al, were relatable however the others were not and I could not connect.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for providing me with ane-ARC of this book for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.

I thought this book was going to be just a thriller, but I am so glad it turned out to be so much more than that.

The story follows the main character, Veda, in two timelines: one present day and one beginning in childhood and progressing forward until the two timelines meet. In the present day, Veda is visiting some friends in New York City and while she's riding the bus one day, a man hijacks the bus and soon it becomes a terrifying hostage situation. The second timeline focuses on everything up to that point growing up in Vancouver, her friendships as a child, her brother, Conrad who never seems to back down from a fight, etc.

Like I said, this book isn't really a thriller. Sure, there is the hijacking, but the whole situation is pretty much stretched out over the entire book and frankly, I became more engrossed in Veda's life than the bus. I'm not too familiar with hijacking/hostage taking but from my general knowledge and movies, I think O'Connell portrayed it fairly accurately. There was a police negotiator who was trying to talk the man down and the situation seemed to be well planned.

The part I really enjoyed, however, was Veda's life before. She narrates the story starting back when she and her brother were young, with their friends Ted, and brother-and-sister Al and Annie. She tells of growing up with a mixed heritage, half-Korean and half-Irish, what that looked like and how that affected her and her brother. Veda spins an enchanting tale of her life and even though there isn't anything particularly special or significant that happens, I couldn't put this book down. I wanted to see how things turned out and what was going to happen next, not because the story was thrilling, but because I was genuinely invested in the characters and their story.

For the most part, this book is set in Canada, specifically Vancouver, however, there are references to other provinces and Canada in general throughout. I don't remember the last time that I read a book that made me so excited to see Canadian references! As a Canadian myself, I was also pleased to see that O'Connell didn't just take typical Canadian stereotypes and wedge them into the story. Being a Canadian writer herself she is able to include details that didn't come across as cheesy.

I really loved this story as a whole and I'm sure there are a few flaws that I am overlooking but I think I've found a new favourite.

Overall, highly recommend!