I had some reservations about this at the start, given that it’s about a man who meets god at the site where his daughter was murdered but I was prepared to see how the author handled it and apparently it’s a best seller.
The first third of the book, as already mentioned, is really well written and detailed the events surrounding the death of the daughter well. She gets abducted from a campsite by a known pedophile and is later slain at The Shack and her body is never recovered.

Thencomes the interesting part, when Mack, father of Missy, finds a note from god in his letterbox asking him to meet him at The Shack. Although he feels it might be a trap by the killer or he may be losing his mind, his curiosity wins and he goes.

After tearing the shack apart in a fit of grief and rage when god isn’t there, he attempts to leave only to be met by a ‘miracle’. The snow melts, the shack returns to its original state and is surrounded by green fields with wild flowers and singing birds.

Then in comes ‘god’ A black woman Elouisa, a guy called Jeshua and another woman called Sarayu. Some interesting theology based conversaton ensues and I began to have hope until ” We created you to share….Adam chose to go it on his own, as we knew he would, and everything got messed up”

I read another ten pages and decided it’s not worth my time. I was OK to go along with the ‘god’ theory but the creationist stuff is just too much to swallow for me. I was raised a catholic so don’t leave disparaging comments or try to convert me. I have an open mind in all things but please, Adam? I was hoping for something more insightful.

Next on the list is The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, which I abandoned to finish The Shack.