The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley

By: Hannah Tinti

Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley

A father protects his daughter from the legacy of his past - and the truth about her mother's death - in this thrilling new novel from the prize-winning author of The Good Thief.

After years spent living on the run, Samuel Hawley moves with his teenage daughter, Loo, to Olympus, Massachusetts. There, in his late wife's hometown, Hawley finds work as a fisherman, while Loo struggles to fit in at school and grows curious about her mother's mysterious death. Haunting them both are twelve scars Hawley carries on his body, from twelve bullets in his criminal past - a past that eventually spills over into his daughter's present, until together they must face a reckoning yet to come. This father-daughter epic weaves back and forth through time and across America, from Alaska to the Adirondacks. Both a coming-of-age novel and a literary thriller, The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley explores what it means to be a hero, and the cost we pay to protect the people we love most.

©2017 Hannah Tinti (P)2017 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved

Sometimes the bad guy has a family

This was an interesting book.

I like books that tell stories where I learn things...like what a clepsydra does. However, while lots of investigating probably went on for parts of the book, the plot was a little far fetched.

I grew to like some of the characters, but I never really understood why Hawley did what he did and how there was kind of this general normalization and acceptance of his criminal past--but I guess that is the point. Bad guys sometime have a family and love their daughter.

The ending also didn't make sense to me. I'd have preferred for the universe to right itself in some way.

The performance was good. I enjoyed the narrator's range to cover all the characters. Her performance kept me in the scenes the book painted.

I don't know if I would recommend the book, but I could definitely see it being a really good movie...in the vein of Come Hell of High Water, which I enjoyed.

hannah tinti is amazing

her stories are never boring, I will read everything she writes.good narrator. I will share it.

Even bad guys have redeeming qualities.

Sam Hawley made lots of money doing bad things. Then he lost his wife. He struggles to redeem himself by keeping their daughter safe and raising her to be smart and strong. Their relationship is surprisingly touching. The organization of the book alternates between Sam's story, told one gunshot wound at a time, and his daughter, Lu's. Both voices are compelling.

Love, love, love

I love this story, the father daughter adventure and the unconventional hero and love story. Love, love, love.

What?

That was a very long ‘read’ without a satisfying conclusion. A good story but I am disappointed