Ben Sherwood - The Death And Life of Charlie St. Cloud - Book Review

I must confess that I only stumbled across The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud because it was part of Richard & Judy's summer read 2005. However, it was a very happy discovery, this has all the makings of a great book and certainly deserves its place in our guide.

Charlie and his brother Sam are both good boys. They look after each other and their mother, until one day Charlie makes an error of judgement, which will not result in just a telling off but the death of his brother and his own near death experience. This experience gives Charlie a 'sixth sense' style gift, which he is ideally placed to make the most of in his job at the cemetery where his brother, Sam, is buried. However, whenever he leaves the cemetery for a prolonged period of time he starts to lose this gift and this is why his meeting with Tess Carroll, a local sporting hero, seems doomed from the outset.

Will Charlie live up to the promise he made never to leave Sam? Or will he live up to the promise of his own human potential? Did he survive the crash for a reason? Will survivor's guilt consume him absolutely? These questions are all answered, all you have to do is read the book! And it is well worth it. The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood gets a big thumbs up from me and a Great Book Guide score of 83% - buy it or borrow it, whatever you do make sure that you read it. This book comes highly recommended for young adults by GreatBookGuide.com