Book Review: Thin Space by Jody Casella

Ever since the car accident that killed his twin brother, Marshall Windsor has been consumed with guilt and crippled by secrets of that fateful night. He has only one chance to make amends, to right his wrongs and set things right. He must find a Thin Space—a mythical point where the barrier between this world and the next is thin enough for a person to step through to the other side.

But, when a new girl moves into the house next door, the same house Marsh is sure holds a thin space, she may be the key—or the unraveling of all his secrets.

As they get closer to finding a thin space—and closer to each other—Marsh must decide once and for all how far he’s willing to go to right the wrongs of the living…and the dead.

Thin Space was an interesting book that kept me entertained but I found it a little transparent and despite there being many twists and turns it never managed to surprise me.

Overall I enjoyed Thin Space but there were loads of niggley little things that took away from the reading experience. The opening was vague and it took me a while to get into, I wasn’t really sure what was going on or why things were happening. It was simple things like why Marshall walked around in no shoes that should have probably been explained a little early in the book so I didn’t spend half my time wondering why he was doing it. The writing, pace and plot were all really good but I never managed to lose myself in it. For some reason I remained detached and although it was entertaining I never really cared what happened. One big reason for my detachment was the fact that pretty early on I knew all this books secrets. I do not know if that was intentional but either way I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if it did something I wasn’t expecting.

The characters were alright but again there was something missing. Marshall is really mixed up and I did feel for him a lot. I cannot imagine what he went through and I did manage to relate to him but he was just so cold. In the book he can’t let anyone get close to him and I felt that feeling so strongly that I couldn’t either. Maddie was alright but I didn’t really get her. There were moments where she seemed strong and moments where she was a bit of a push over. Again, getting to know her was hard and I would have liked a little more insight into her situation as not all of it made sense to me.

I liked the romance, it was sweet but not terribly important, and it was very much in the background. I could see the chemistry building between Maddie and Marshall and knew that them getting together was inevitable but it was not what this book was about at all. Maddie changes Marshall, she opens him up and it is their friendship and not the romance that begins to fix him.

Thin Space was an interesting and enjoyable book that needed a little more depth and emotion to be truly gripping.

3 stars

Published September 10th 2013 by Beyond Words/Simon Pulse.  Free copy provided for review.  Image taken from Goodreads. 

Review by Kate Phillips.