Review: The Strange Life of Brandon Chambers by Scott Spotson

Published: October 2016

Pages: 426

Synopsis: “Ten-year-old Brandon Chambers is suddenly thrust into a national scandal when his father, a top-ranking captain in the U.S. Army, is implicated in a tragic explosion on the army base while spearheading a top-secret weapons project. During the aftermath, both his parents are labeled as traitors, and he’s haunted by visions he can’t understand. Brandon struggles through adolescence and college, still troubled by hallucinations that are also witnessed by others, leading him to believe that someone—or something—is deliberately laying clues in his path. Doggedly pursuing one clue at a time, Brandon seeks the answers.”

Rating: ***

A simple title, that sums up the book and introduces the reader to the main character. From the 6 word title you are informed that the main character is called Brandon Chambers, and it is implied that strange things will happen to him during this book. This kind of catchy title is particularly useful when aiming books at children or younger readers, as they get an idea of exactly what they’re going to get without needing to look any further than the cover.

Starts strongly and I was definitely intrigued by the hare in the gas mask. I thought the writing style was a little simplistic, with some descriptions and events needing to be developed a bit more and written in a bit more detail but it was enough to keep my interest at this stage.

Both of Brandon’s parents seem quite cold and their interactions and dialogue with Brandon didn’t ring true as it felt very stilted.

Most of the initial chapters were set one to two months after the previous chapter (some as much a year later), which made the novel feel disjointed and prevented it from flowing smoothly. This also meant the reader didn’t witness the development of the characters. Yes, you see the change in characters between one time period and the next, but you didn’t see this as a continuum or a journey. The later chapters were set directly one after the other and this definitely flowed better. It almost made me wonder if the author had thought about this partway through writing, either that or it was intended for the first half to be snapshots introducing the reader to the characters and events enabling the second half of the book to be in more detail.

The characters were written well, but again I don’t think enough detail was given. Derek was written well and he was definitely the villain of the book towards both Brandon and his wife Siobhan. Personally, the character who felt most authentic was Gavin, Brandon’s Uncle. Personally, I didn’t like Brandon as a character but there was some character development and he did seem to turn his life around.

I don’t think I ‘got this’, which was a shame as I was really looking forward to reading after reading the synopsis.