What Follows After ~ Review

What Follows After
By Dan Walsh

When Colt Harrison decides he's had enough - he didn't realize just how painful it would be.  His parents have been living a lie, forcing Colt and his younger brother Timmy to live it with them.  But Colt's plan to force the truth to come out go wrong and Timmy along with the rest of the family may pay the price.

But as the Harrison's world crumbles around them, an even greater threat is looming over the entire country and even the world as the United States and Russia threaten World War III.  As the nation hangs on every word spoken by President Kennedy, one family waits to hear anything about their missing 6 year old son.  But Timmy has gotten lost in a world on the brink of war - until a church full of hard working people decides to be on the look-out for Timmy and his abductor.

The crisis at home brings to light what is wrong within the Harrison family, but the question is is it too late to fix what is and has been broken?  What is sad is this is so often the case within families - something is wrong and yet our pride refuses to admit the truth.  We hide what is wrong instead of confronting it and fixing it.  That is what I like about Dan Walsh's books he portrays real life and real life can be messy.  And What Follows After is no exception, but with as is the case with all of Dan's books there is hope.  And the hope Dan offers is something that we can all put to use in our own lives and families.

Having heard people over the years talk about the Cuban Missile this is the first book I've ever read that is set during this period.  So this was also an enlightening book to read as it brought the realities of this period of unrest and fear to light in a way that brought it home, unlike most history text books.  So even though this book is being marketed as contemporary fiction, I think it could easily fall into the historical subcategory as well.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher Revell in exchange for my honest review.

In 1962, life was simple, the world made sense, and all families were happy.
And when they weren't, everyone knew you were supposed to pretend.
For the past year, Scott and Gina Harrison have been living a lie. While they show up at family get-togethers in the same car, they've actually been separated for over a year. To keep up the charade, they've even instructed their sons, Colt and Timmy, to lie--to their grandparents, their teachers, and their friends.

Colt, for one, has had enough, so he hatches a plan. He and his little brother will run away from their Florida home, head for their aunt's house in Georgia, and refuse to come home until their parents get back together. But when things go terribly, terribly wrong, Scott and Gina must come to grips with years of neglect and mistrust in order to recover their beloved sons, their love for one another, and their marriage.

In this emotional story, bestselling author Dan Walsh takes you on a journey to rediscover the things that matter most in life--love, truth, and family. With profound insight into the heart of a hurting child, he reminds us that a time will come to look back on hard times and smile, because we'll know that what follows after . . . is not what we expected at all.

"Dan is an artist and his canvas is the novel, where he uses different colors and hues of words to create a masterpiece. What Follows After is a story that will surely touch your heart and soul."--John M. Wills, New York Journal of Books
Dan Walsh is the bestselling author of several books, including The Unfinished Gift, The Discovery, and The Reunion, as well as The Dance and The Promise with Gary Smalley. He has won three Carol awards, and three of his novels were finalists for RT Book Reviews Inspirational Book of the Year (2011-2013). Dan lives with his wife in the Daytona Beach area, where he's busy researching and writing his next novel. Visit www.danwalshbooks.com for more.