The Four Corners of the Sky: A Novel

by: Michael Malone

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark

Reviewed by Beth Cummings

Prize-winning author Michael Malone has fabricated a terrific novel in The Four Corners of the Sky. It is an adventure, a romance, a mystery and the story of a family, all rolled into one immense romp. He plays with emotions and curiosity while twisting and turning an intriguing plot. The story travels from North Carolina to St. Louis to Miami to Havana, Cuba.

Malone’s characters are complex and feel extraordinarily real. Annie, the main focus, is a Navy pilot who was abandoned by her father, Jack Peregrine, at the age of seven. He spent his life as a con artist and he conned his only sister into raising his daughter. Suddenly, on Annie’s twenty-sixth birthday, Jack comes back into her life with a request that she fly from North Carolina to St. Louis because he is dying. It’s a con. Annie knows it probably is. Her aunt, Sam, knows it too – yet they move forward in the plot that Jack set up for them – because despite everything he has or has not done, they still love him.

This strong bond of familial love is a major force in the book. Annie has a strong love/hate feeling toward the man who deserted her as a child. She also has a firm love for the aunt and pseudo-uncle who raised her. At the same time, she is almost overwhelmed by her desire to know who her “real” mother was. The other characters in the book also have strong bonds of love and loyalty that ends up making them very interesting and memorable. Even the family dogs are characters with distinct personalities.

This could be a fun book for a book group to dissect because of its variety of people, motives and of course the mystery and intrigue, which I won’t spoil by discussing here. I would give it a strong positive recommendation.

Armchair Interviews agrees.

Author’s Web site: http://www.sourcebooks.com/spotlight/four-corners-of-the-sky-michael-malone