A bend in the road door Nicholas Sparks

Title: A Bend in the Road
Author: Nicholas Sparks
Where did/does the author live: North Carolina
Number of Pages: 384

Setting:

The place is New Bern, North Carolina (USA).
The year is 1988. The time is mentioned in the beginning of the book in the first chapter.

Central Theme:

I think the author’s message is about the imperfections of being human and how everybody can make mistakes. It is about love, tragedy, hopes, joy and consequences of our actions.

Main Characters:

Miles Ryan:

Miles Ryan serves as a deputy in New Bern. He is not very open-minded and likes to keep his thoughts to himself. He is a very emotional man and tends to get attached to someone very quickly. Miles is gentle, a little bit insecure and seems like a fun person to have around. He is the father of Jonah.

Missy Ryan:
She is the former wife of Miles Ryan. They were high school sweethearts and loved each other. She passed away in a tragic car accident and even though she has passed away, she is one of the main characters. The book is mainly about Miles Ryan trying to uncover the mystery of her death and finding out who exactly murdered Missy.

The Killer:
The name of this man is not mentioned in the book. Every now and then you read his perspective. This real killer that had accidentally hit Missy, becomes obsessed with Missy's family. He begins watching and stalking Miles and Jonah. The driver hopes that he will see that they're okay, so he can put some of the horror of that day behind him.

Other Important Characters:

Sarah Andrews:
She is a young teacher that is looking for a new beginning in New Bern after her husband rejected her when she found out she couldn’t bear children. She is very friendly, good with children and can be very understanding.

Jonah Ryan:
He is the son of Miles Ryan and is actually the reason that Miles and Ryan got to meet. His age isn’t mentioned in the book but by the context I’m guessing he is around 6 years old. Jonah has trouble in school and only when Sarah Andrews becomes his new teacher, he starts to catch up again. Miles Ryan and Jonah are very close.

Summary:


(The novel tells two stories. the story of the perspective of the man who killed Missy Ryan, who is kept a mystery until near the end of the novel, and Miles Ryan's life after his wife's death.)

It’s been two years since Missy, Miles Ryan his wife, has passed away but Miles can still not bear the thought of her not being there with him. All he has is their son Jonah. Missy has been killed in a hit and run during her morning jog, and Miles becomes obsessed with finding her killer who could never be identified because of a lack of evidence.

When Miles meets Jonah’s teacher, Sarah Andrews, there seems to be an immediate connection. At first Miles feels as if he would be cheating on his wife, but eventually listens to his heart and before he knows it, he’s falling in love all over again. Everything seems to be fine, until Miles hits another meltdown and arrests a suspect he claims to be Missy’s murderer. Little does he know that he’s far from right.

That same day from the arrest, he crashes into the car of an unknown person. This person ends up to be the real killer of Missy from the night of the hit and run. Miles is clueless when he realizes that this man is far from the cruel man he thought the killer would be and in the end he decides to forgive this man.

Words: 206

Opinion:

In the beginning of the book I didn’t think it was that good and I honestly thought it was kind of boring how Nicholas Sparks wrote so much about the emotional details in the novel.
But later in the book, I started to like the love connection between Sarah and Miles and the obsession Miles had for solving his wife’s murder.
I ended up really enjoying the story plot and the writing, and it motivated me to read more of his novels. I definitely recommend this book.