Jacob is eight and although he has been dead for over forty years, he is still full of life. That is because he has returned. Still a child, he wants the love and affection with his now elderly parents, but its difficult because in realty they have moved on and here is a small boy waiting on the doorstep hoping that they would come out and play. Jacob’s character is at the heart and soul of the storyline and we follow him everywhere, taking all the emotions we have with us. We all want to be a Jacob at times and the warmth and friendship we get from him comes off the pages.

Moving on from the Hargrave’s, there is Bellamy who is a member of the Bureau which is tasked of helping the returned, Colonel Willis – an authoritarian man who commands over the Bureau's refugee camp with his own ambitions – a character who you do not want to be on the wrong side of; and there is Fred Green, the trouble maker. Fred stirs up trouble and with his gang of devoted anti-returned followers tries to bring back normality to the town, and the world, where it seems that the returned have taken over. Any tactic you can think of, Fred will use, and if that doesn’t work well violence might just be the answer. His arrogance domineer is what brings out the clashes we see between him and the Hargrave’s that fill most of the pages in the book. It is a real battle between good and evil.

There are many characters that you see as you go through the book, the majority of them are just simple background characters, others there is a little bit more to them. However, I can’t talk about every single character in the book – that would be boring now, wouldn’t it? – But those above, which I have briefly talked about are what I think are the essential characters that hold down the storyline and drive the story along. It is the way that Jason Mott used his characters that kept me reading it.

 A Moving Story: The Plot

Set in a small American town called Arcadia, the story follows the Hargrave’s and the people of Arcadia. Jacob Hargrave has come back home, he was dead but now he is alive again and being the happy cheeky chappie that he is. However, he is not the only one that has ‘returned’; as the story progresses you hear stories of other returnees which are embedded within the book. An intriguing way of doing it. At the beginning and throughout most of the book there is not much of a storyline, however, it does get slightly better near the end.

The main action, if you like, takes place within the school building that acts as a camp for the returned. The short stories of different characters give a feel that you are not only following Jacob’s story, but the others too. Apart from these stories and the relationship between Jacob and his parents, the only other action takes place within the town and is dominated by Fred Green and his gang of troublemakers. Like the human race in reality, not everyone is so welcoming to the returned; with banners and a slightly confusing chant, Fred and his gang try and stop the Bureau and the retuned from taking over the town. And towards the end it doesn’t quite go to plan.

The book is full of emotion and while the lead up to the ending gets a little exciting, it is still a warm but sad ending. The way Jason Mott has woven the little stories into the main storyline makes you, the reader, to sympathise with the characters and feel their pain too. Also, what is really touching is that the plot, or book if you like, was created out of Jason Mott’s own life experience. He had a dream that his mother was sitting at the dining room table one day and they were able to chat and to reconnect again, and this gave him an idea which focused on the ‘what if’. What if everyone we ever talked to or connected with was able to come back and be able to relive that time again? What if we could see and speak to our loved ones again? What if the world went round in circles and death is not even certain? A good idea, but not well executed, in that the book didn’t really grip me and I wasn’t an emotional wreck either. Although, that could just be because I am a man, who knows?

 A Flicker of Memories: Style and Genre

Jason Mott’s way of writing is not uncommon, but having short one page, two page character stories between the main chapters is different from what most people would normally do. Flashbacks are a good way of broadening out the storyline or that character’s own background, usually they are a scene within a scene or a stand alone chapter in itself and the way that Jason Mott has done it is something that I have not seen before. Different, but a really good way in getting the reader to know more characters that are usually hidden in the background. Brilliant! Language and tone are always important when trying to convey a dystopian world to any reader. You need to get the reader to be immersed in your world and be able to feel like one of the characters, and I think Jason Mott does this quite well. You can imagine yourself in the world he has created, it is witty, it is emotional, it has everything that a book needs. But it did lack excitement.

Genre can be difficult to distinguish for some books, they either don’t have a specific category that they fit in to or they crossover into different categories. The Returned seems to fit into this as it feels like it is just general fiction, although it is based on a real life experience and set in a real life setting, I cannot quite pinpoint a specific genre that it would fall into. Even the woman from the library couldn’t figure out what genre it was. Now, I usually don’t mind what type of genre it is, but if you are someone who likes a specific style of writing then anything that may fall outside of it may find it difficult to connect with the book. Other than that it is very well written and had a sad but lovely ending.

Would I Recommend It?

 If you like a warm hearted emotion riddled book, this one is then for you. However, if you are like me, who likes a bit of excitement in a story and wants to be on the edge of the seat, then this may disappoint you. While Jason Mott seems to be a good writer, I cannot deny that, it is not a book that I would read again. The confusing storyline and lack of excitement made me disappointed in the book; it has a great concept, but just not well executed as I was drawn into it by the blurb on the back cover and yet as I turned the pages it didn’t grow onto me. While this may sound harsh, it is best to try and read it yourself and make your own decision. Some may like it, others, like me, may not. Let’s hope that the returned don’t come back in this world and force me to like it.

Happy Reading Guys!