I ordered a copy of Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam almost as soon as I finished reading a review by Lorraine of John, It’s Only Makeup! Any book that compels a person to read it multiple times is guaranteed a place on my to-read list and in this case I wasn’t disappointed.

“Tommie is eleven. David Lamb is fifty-four. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”

With these words, written on the book’s cover, the scene is set. An accidental meeting leads to an unconventional and at times incredibly disturbing friendship between David Lamb, a middle aged man whose life doesn’t seem to be going to plan, and Tommie, a young girl whose home and school life aren’t exactly picture perfect.

Lamb decides to ‘save’ Tommie from her humdrum life and convinces her to go on a road trip with him. What follows is an experience that asks just as many questions as it answers leaving the reader not only with a knot in the pit of their stomach, but with their heart in their mouth on more than one occasion.

Nadzam has a beautiful way of writing about outdoor scenery that rivals the prose of Annie Proulx. Every word serves a purpose, there are no excesses here. In Lamb the descriptions of mountains and sky are scattered amongst a tale that will keep you on the edge of your seat. You know it can’t possibly end well for Lamb and Tommie, but you can’t quite figure out the moment at which it will all come crumbling down around them.

I won’t give too much away, but I will say that Lamb is a novel that stayed with me long after I turned the final page. I can’t recommend it highly enough.