The Truth of the Matter by Andrew Klavan

Book description:
Charlie is certain that if he could just regain his memory, the chaos around him would make sense. But the truth of the matter is even more incredible than he could imagine.



Charlie West was an ordinary high school kid who went to bed one night and woke up in the clutches of terrorists and wanted by the police for murder. He also woke up with no memory of the events of the past year.


Now Charlie has found the one person who knows what happened . . . and who can help him remember. But remembering is painful--as well as dangerous--and figuring out what to do with this new knowledge may be Charlie's toughest challenge yet.

My review:
I love this series. Though aimed at young adults, they capture my attention and are very suspenseful. The first two books had Charlie running from everyone - the police and the terrorist organization he seemed to be part of, but couldn't remember amything of the past year, including being part of them.

In this book, a lot comes to light: how and why he became part of the Homelanders, the events surrounding his best friend's murder, and how and why he lost the memory of those events in the first place.

This may be the best of the three books so far, but they are all so exciting and gripping that it is hard to decide.

This book seemed to have more of a Christian message than the first two, but regardless of that, they are clean, curse-free, sex-free and are great books for teens - or adults. My fifteen-year-old niece loves the books.

So this book - and series - gets my whole-hearted approval and recommendation. And of course gets my "read-in-one-sitting" status.

About the author:
Andrew Klavan wrote his first novel, Face of the Earth, in 1977. He then moved to Putnam County, New York, where he worked as a reporter for a local newspaper. His experience covering local crime later formed the basis for his novel Corruption.



After Face of the Earth was published, Klavan returned to New York, where he took a series of jobs (as a script reader for Columbia Pictures and a news writer for WOR Radio and ABC Radio Networks) while writing mysteries and freelance book reviews. During this time he wrote The Scarred Man using the pseudonym Keith Peterson. Klavan's book, The Rain, won an Edgar Award for Best Original Paperback.

Klavan went on to write such international bestsellers as Don’t Say A Word, which was filmed starring Michael Douglas, and True Crime, which was filmed by Clint Eastwood and Empire of Lies. He also wrote the screenplay for the film version of Simon Brett's novel A Shock to the System, which starred Michael Caine and the horror film One Missed Call.

Klavan and his family moved to London, where they lived for seven years. Returning to the United States, they settled in Southern California. While still writing thriller novels for adults, Klavan says he’s excited to be writing his first novels for younger people. “I’ve always tried to write stories that move like lightning but still deal with big ideas,” he says. “I’d like to bring that skill to a younger market.”

Visit the author's website at http://www.andrewklavan.com/ and the Homelander's website at http://www.thehomelanders.com/

The Truth of the Matter, The Last Thing I Remember, and The Long Way Home are available from Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Thanks to Thomas Nelson for the review copy.