Book Review: "The Walk" by Richard Paul Evans

The premise of this story is a successful, rich advertising executive loses everything he has in the world: his wife dies as a result of a tragic accident; his business partner steals his business out from under him; his house is foreclosed. He's got nothing left. Well, sort of nothing. He actually owns some pretty valuable stuff and he is fortunate enough to have an assistant who is both creative and faithful -- not to mention in love with him.

He decides to simply walk away from it all, as far away as possible. He lives in Seattle so he decides to walk to Key West, Florida. I love journey stories, so I was ready for an adventure. His assistant sells a bunch of his stuff to bankroll his trip. He has some pretty snazzy camping gear already, so he just takes off, walking down the road.

It turns out that this is the first of a series of books. In this one, the character only gets as far as Spokane, Washington. At that rate, there could be a whole lot of books before he gets to Key West. I'm not sure I'm up for a long series. What is more, there's some weird kind of Celestine Prophecy-like theology underlying the story that turns me off, but also rings of a kind of truth. When I read a book I want to go on an adventure that transforms my life in unexpected ways. I don't want to be converted. There's a difference, and this book tests the line between those two things.

Evans is a very good writer. I'll read one more in the series to see if the adventure of the Journey manages to overcome the preaching.