Oh, how I want to succumb to the peer pressure and say I liked this book. Even as the pages were dwindling I kept waiting for "it". I kept thinking okay, something's going to happen and I'm going to say "Aaahh... this is why everyone loves this book". But, sadly, it didn't happen. And sorry to the Gargoyle lovers out there (and I really am sorry), but I just didn't get it. And I think mostly the problem was I just didn't care. While I would probably give the writing a 4 or 5 star, the storyline and the characters were lackluster. There was no conflict whatsoever to propel the story along. Some of the "mini" stories within the book were far better than the main one- like the widow awaiting on the cliff for her husband lost at sea- now that one kept me turning the pages, so while there were moments of redemption, I would file the majority of the book under Things That Make Me Go Hmmm? And Marianne Engel just really made me want to hurl. What- she's schizo, bi-polar, a time traveler? Do we ever really get an answer? She's loaded because she carves gargoyles who talk to her from the stone and she has to do it in the nude? And ignores the guy she supposedly loves who is a recovering burn victim and who she promised she'd take care of if he came home with her? I actually started liking the main character MORE because he had to put up with HER. She just wasn't a believable character to me.

I guess this is one of those love it or hate it kind of books, which ultimately makes for intense discussion and I'm all for that.

That being said, I do think Mr. Davidson is quite talented and I would probably give him the benefit of the doubt if he writes another novel. Perhaps he should write a collection of short stories since the ones in the book were so good.