The characters in this book felt so real and true. Complex, damaged, and curious in the way they lived their lives. Accepting them as Ludington wrote them made me want to know more about their lives and the reasons they made the choices they made. It isn't that I loved each of them throughout the book, but it was more that I grew to understand them and simply accept them. I guess all of this is to say this book was really well written, with great character development, and also a fascinating history. I'll be thinking about this book for a while.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

A well crafted story with interesting characters however I found ended very poorly which was disappointing

If the word “foreboding” was described by a single book, this would be the book! There is a dark ominous vibe from start to finish that kinda creeped me out but also sparked my curiosity. Usually I would call that suspense, but this was more like a muggy fug of impending doom that you are running towards in slow motion.

So that actually sounds like a nightmare and yeah, it does have a bit of that dissociative mindbending feel, especially when the author starts describing some of the weird theories a group of his characters embrace (more to come on that in a minute!). But it’s also a masterful building of tension that happens throughout the read that kept me flipping those pages fascinated by how this wild ride could possibly finish. Ludington’s writing style definitely engaged me and I didn’t want to put it down.

We meet Daniel in current day California and the timeline jumps back and forth between his past, starting in the no holds barred 60s, and his present reality. In the present, he is a man who has lived his life in the wake of a tragic incident which is a story that slowly unfolds for us with forays back into time. This incident has infiltrated all his relationships and life choices in the following years, turning him from a boy with life at his feet to an old man with a suitcase full of regrets. But there are things he also doesn’t know, missing facts that could have and maybe still will change everything. The structure of the story is anything but straightforward but it’s a puzzle I enjoyed figuring out.

One of Ludington strengths in this book is how he creates powerful and very realistic characters, full of flaws and relatable emotions. Their storylines, like Celia and Dean who the story opens with, develop extensively and exist almost independently of Daniel’s. Yet oddly his is the only story that has a beginning, middle and end. By the end, everyone else feels unresolved and relegated to the periphery like they didn’t matter so much, even though Ludington detailed their lives and thoughts with vivid contour from the start. I was highly annoyed to not get full stories about each and every person. Like, excuse me, sir, but don’t make me get involved with your characters and then leave me hanging! It’s an open-ended treatment that maybe could be said to create mystery and drama but for me felt unsatisfying.

But back to the foreboding part, the subject matter is part of what gives this book such a weird vibe. The other major character, Jack has some strange experiences with a cult and there are often extensive breakdowns of the cult’s mystic beliefs and supernatural philosophies. Sometimes it doesn’t even feel like just the cult’s view but perhaps the author’s and you start to wonder if maybe the villain has a valid point despite some of his more questionable choices. It takes a skilled writer to make a villain still somehow relatable. Ludington definitely played with my mind a little bit here!

All said and done, this book won’t be a cookie cutter read and will stimulate your brain cells, which is always intriguing. It kept me thinking beyond the pages and I value that in a book! You probably won’t put this one down with the elation that comes with a nice tidy ending and a storybook high but I think you’ll find it worth the read!

*I was graciously provided an ARC to review by St Martin’s press in exchange for my honest opinion.

In Thorn Tree, Lundington hands his readers a story cinematic in scope, expansive in descriptive details and filled with flawed, troubled characters. Told in three parts, With a flash back to the 1960s Haight-Ashbury "scene", it is easy to immerse oneself in the story. I love a slow simmering read, and Ludington takes readers down a slow winding path to reveal the 'whys'. I found Celia and Daniel to be well-developed characters - easy to relate to - while Jack is more of an enigma to puzzle over. So, a lot of great things to like about this one. Unfortunately, either the book started to lose traction (or I started to lose interest) in the weaving of the various plots. By the end, I was just happy to be finished. I will admit that I have not read any novels by Emma Cline or Jennifer Egan so it is possible this will appeal more to fans of Cline's and Egan's books. I also can only take the author's word for what the 1960s were like. I was left with a big "WHY" and the feeling the story would probably work better played out on the large screen than as a smaller picture flickering in my head as I read along.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an advanced reader copy.

Thorn Tree
by Max Ludington
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing this new novel.

Daniel lives a hermit-like life. Once an infamous artist creating massive multimedia sculptures, he now lives an isolated life and tutors young students in English in his free time. His actress- neighbor Celia, is recuperating from a second stay at rehab. She has recently been cast in a strenuous movie and is on the cusp of massive stardom. The filming has gone long and she has left her once estranged father Jack to watch her young son Dean.
I enjoyed the book. It was a three-part book in one. I certainly kept my interest. I just felt everything for these people, all with their own traumas to deal with.

Years after Daniel created his block-buster sculpture “Thorn Tree,” he looked for ways to reconnect with the world. He does this by befriending Dean, the young child of his neighbor Celia, keeping Dean’s grandfather, Jack, instinctively at arm’s length.

He has a relationship with Tanya and her sons, Rashid and Gerald, with Gerald eventually moving in with him. But Daniel has experienced tragic loss which prevents him from experiencing life, a situation that Jack knows something about.

This novel is rooted in the Vietnam era of the late 60s and 70s, and references the music of the Doors, the Stones and the Grateful Dead combined with the lurking cults and drugs that were part of the L.A. scene. The wartime upheavals and their effects on the family unit linked with its intergenerational aftermath makes “Thorn Tree” by Max Ludington a powerful and suspenseful novel.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing this ARC.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing this new novel. After sitting with it for a few days after finishing, I’m still not sure how to rate this book. I thInk the writing was very good, the plot was engrossing and kept me reading and reading. All good, right? But it also filled me with a weird sense of impending doom or angst right from the beginning. That is not something I typically experience when reading unless I seek out a horror or suspense novel, and I didn’t enjoy it in this book. I think many will but for me, it made me feel stressed out. I also felt disappointed by the way it ended. Characters did not have the resolutions I was hoping for, or in some cases, it was left open ended. Maybe too much like real life?

Who doesn’t love hearing about “ old hollywood “ this girl does …. if you loved the evelyn hugo book then i def think you would enjoy this book!

I absolutely adored ‘Thorn Tree’ and devoured it as quickly as I could. I’ve been suffering from reading fatigue, but this book, with its complex characters and exploration of how individuals may respond to trauma, got my head back into the game. Can’t wait to recommend this one to all of my friends.

An exciting three part novel set outside of Hollywood.
Daniel lives a hermit-like life. Once an infamous artist creating massive multimedia sculptures, he now lives a isolated life tutors young students in English in his free time. His actress- neighbor Celia, is recuperating from a second stay at rehab. She has recently been cast in a strenuous movie and is on the cusp of massive stardom. The filming has gone long and she has left her once estranged father Jack to watch her young son Dean.

All of these adults are running from trauma - how it all ties together and the story it makes will simply enthrall you! If you love multi-layered and complex characters and plots that span decades, this is an amazing book for you!
#ThornTree #Maxludington #StMartins