The Illusion of Simple was a fine story and the audiobook is well produced, but I lost interest fairly quickly and couldn't wait for it to be over.

This title was archived 2 days after it was put on my shelf so I never got to start it. Didn't realize I had 2 days or none. Next time I will take this into account.

The Illusion of Simple....This book by Charles Forrest Jones is actually anything but simple. Set in a small town in rural Kansas, the story explores the depth of human nature in relation to itself and each other. When the town recluse is found murdered on the highway, it is up to the Sheriff to figure out what happened. Add in some race issues at the school as well as a wild dog that attacks an elderly man, and the Sheriff's small town is full of trouble. As he works to find the answers, he realizes that the problems are deep-seated, with racial tension and hate crimes. Come to this small town and see your own neighbors and friends, explore their traits and hopes, and find something out about yourself along the way.
The narrator did a great job. I really enjoyed the story. It was quite gripping, but also had several laugh out loud moments. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to listen to it.

This one was very ordinary to me. I don’t know I liked the characters and some of the plot elements. But nothing screams brilliant or unique
Which is in a bad thing sometimes you win

I liked it… I wanted to love it! I enjoyed the characters as they were introduced however the deeper we got into the story the more virus if he came. Felt so one-sided. Khatibi and incessant degradation towards multiple groups really turned me off.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 three stars full of potential or a book that Was written with a bit too much malice.

The premise was interesting, which is why I requested it. After just a couple of chapters I found I wasn't able to follow the main story line. It lacked cohesion and story development right up front. I abandoned the book about a third of the way through.

Listened to the audiobook.
I received a free Advanced Reading Copy via NetGalley in exchange for a complete and honest review.
SO GOOD!!

This book was not one I ended up enjoying. Started out listening to it, but the narrator was just too dry, causing me to loose interest. There were parts of the story that were very good, but somehow they got lost along the way and there was quite a bit of finger pointing at certain groups of people. Switching to book form didn’t help much as I just didn’t resonate with the overall story.

I used the Audiobook version of this novel. I found the narrator was not engaging, and my mind tended to wander a lot, and it was very difficult to concentrate of the book itself. The story seemed like a good one, but I honestly couldn't even tell you what was happening after the first two narrated pages.

Thankyou Netgalley and University of Iowa Press for my advanced copy of The Illusion of Simple.

This book is just not the right book for me, I would prefer to move onto another book, then waste my time on a book that wasn't engaging.

1 Star: I did not enjoy the book and may not have been able to finish it. I would not recommend this book to others.

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While the description sounded hopeful I found the book to be depressing. Every description of a place or character was on the morose side. The main character, while well developed, was not endearing or even likeable. Many allusions to issues in the news today- which I read to avoid! Commentary on social aspects of the poor and marginalized are from a point of view that the author developed in his career, but still sound hopeless.

I went into this read expecting it to be a mystery/thriller. Although it does start with a mysterious moment where a gloved hand is found, the mystery takes more of a backseat to the rest of the story.

Charles Forrest Jones has created a small town with typical characters associated with a rural area. In many ways, this book reads more like a character study of the individuals who live in a small town where everyone knows everyone else's business and people are struggling to find a way to break free from the mundane expectations that come with small town life.

There are a lot of characters in this book and at times listening to this on audio made it difficult to keep track of everyone.

Overall, even though I did wish there was more from the mystery, it was a good read with rich, complex characters.

I don't know if it's the narrator or the actual content, but this audiobook is difficult to follow. There are too many characters to go with a single voice. The description sounded very interesting, but it the audiobook doesn't seem to live up to it. Thank you for allowing to try it!

Gritty crime drama set in small town Kansas? Yes, please. Where many of the like stray towards caricatures, The Illusion of Simple builds genuine characters you can almost reach out and touch. The story is certainly meandering at times, but worth the journey.

I am choosing not to post a public review as I did not finish the book. This story is overly detailed and I do not care for that style of writing. I got frustrated early on at the overwhelming number of details and slow moving plot and since I knew the end result would not be a favorable review, decided to stop.

I appreciate the opportunity.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to listen to this audio book in return for an honest review.
Synopsis
n a dry Kansas riverbed, a troop of young girls finds a human hand. This discovery leads Billy Spire, the tough and broken sheriff of Ewing County, to investigate and confront the depths of his community and of himself: the racism, the dying economy, the lies and truths of friendship, grievances of the past and present, and even his own injured marriage.

But like any town where people still breathe, there is also love and hope and the possibility of redemption. To flyover folks, Ewing County appears nothing more than a handful of empty streets amid crop circles and the meandering, depleted Arkansas River. But the truth of this place—the interwoven lives and stories—is anything but simple.

The illusion of simple, really is an illusion the story is far from simple, in all honesty I struggled to keep up with all of the characters and their back stories (which I should probably add isn’t a negative, too many times I’ve read books and thought, wait who is this, so the backstory’s were great) unfortunately it just had a bit too much going on for me, and I confuse easily. The author tended to write a little one sidedly perhaps you could even say with bias. The writing itself is brilliant, the narration excellent it just wasn’t for me, but I’d not consider rating less than 3 just because it wasn’t a good fit.

The Illusion of Simple by Charles Forrest Jones

I liked how the story started out. A young woman is taking a troop of poor young girls on an outing. These kids wouldn't be able to be in one of the established kids' troops because of lack of money and other things but that doesn't mean they can't have some of the same fun and experiences that other kids have. But one of the little girls finds a glove with a hand in it so the sheriff is called. I really like Sheriff Billy Spire. He grew up poor, getting constant beatings from his brutal dad. He was always in fights, and because of his background, once he started fighting, it was in a blind rage. From his description, he was born ugly and got uglier with every punch and every year that he lived. He was so ugly that he felt bad that people had to look at him.

Still, even though Billy feels like he will die never amounting to something, he really has made a difference in this town. He was a top high school football player and when his family moved away he was allowed to live with a prominent family of the town. He made good grades and had a successful career in the military. Then he came home and was elected sheriff. About the time he became sheriff, Billy had an epiphany and vowed to be a nicer person, to see the good in others, the help make things better. It's hard being this nicer, better person sometimes, he doesn't always make good on his vow, but he never gives up trying.

Now he has to run down the body that goes with the hand. Rumors abound, keeping them quashed is impossible since the town loves to talk. I wish the story was mostly about Billy and the murder and the townspeople because that's what I enjoyed. The narrator does a great job of narrating the story, His voice and manner of delivery are excellent.

But the story is so one sided against certain groups of people and certain beliefs. When a story goes so far to vilify groups of people the way it does, I lose interest. It felt like the characters, and there were many interesting characters, got lost in the causes.

Thank you to RB Media/Recorded Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

I think I did myself an injustice by coming into this book assuming it was a mystery/thriller because during the whole story I was waiting for something thriller like to occur. I thought maybe it was going to be a slow burn like some of the less action packed Stephen King novels but this was not quite the case. It starts out with a girl troop finding a severed hand in the woods during their camping trip, but it doesn’t really go beyond that in the aspects of the mystery/thriller genre. So I think that the mystery & thriller tag should be removed and just be labeled as fiction.

But if you look at this book from a literary fiction point of view, than you will enjoy it more. The title is a play off of the the complexity of the characters’ outer and inner turmoil. Speaking of characters, if I’m going to be honest, there were way too many. It was hard for me to keep up with them all. Every time a new character appeared their whole backstory was given even if they weren’t relevant to the plot.

I received this ARC book from Netgalley & the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

I was given this arc in exchange for an honest review: 1 star

Well the title gets it right because this book is complicated for seemingly no reason. There is such a large cast that I keep getting characters mixed up. I’ve had to actually write down character names and descriptions so hopefully I know what’s going on. This book was listed as a mystery/thriller and it’s not. It’s more about everyone’s regular lives in town than about the literal murder. The finding of the hand happens very early on in the book but nothing happens?? We spend very little time on FINDING A HUMAN HAND and just learn about everyone in the town. Learning about the victim is interesting but why am I learning about a bunch of random people who have very little to do with the case?

Also this might be nit picky but the women in this book are written really badly. Very sexist 2D depictions of women. Example: “…in her late teens she wears a sleeveless blouse and short shorts. Her legs are slender and flirty” later it goes on to say “there is something compliant and sweet about her” that is a CHILD.

TW: abuse, racism, antisemitism, terrorism, fat phobia, misogyny, gun violence, poverty, addiction, cancer, murder, etc.

thank you to netgalley for the ARC of this book for my honest review. i love thrillers and being from the midwest i was very interested in this book.

unfortunately i didn’t end up finishing the book. i lost interest pretty quickly and after pushing through to almost halfway i couldn’t make myself finish the audiobook.

the character list is extensive and kind of hard to follow. based on the synopsis i read, i wish the book itself were a bit more focused. i received an ARC audiobook and i had to pause multiple times to reorient myself in the story.

i kept asking myself is it a character study or a murder mystery/thriller? either answer is fine but i would be sure to market it clearly.

from what i read it seems to be a part of a trend i’m seeing in books about redeeming small-minded characters. i believe people can grow, but so far i don’t know that this book conveyed that storyline in a believable way for me. i hope that it did that later on but i wasn’t interested enough to reach that point.

A human hand is found by a troop of young girls. Ewing County, the sheriff leads the investigation and with it comes many other discoveries which leads to deep questions around his own life and the town's folk's individual stories.

A very intriguing story with a wide range of topics questioned and answered. Charles has a very deep way of telling this story. It is full of questions, hope and light. Truly magnificent!

The narration was excellent with a male voice that really spoke of how deep this book goes. My thanks to Netgalley and RB Media for this ARC.