First Impressions

80 Miles to Nowhere by Melissa Aylstock.

I probably picked up this book three times, but I didn’t put it down because I didn’t like it. I could never find it on the library shelf again because it was always checked out. Alas. The story is about a young man, whose car breaks down in the middle of the Salt Flats in Utah. He calls a towing company, and decides to bunk in with the tow truck driver and his friends until he can fix his car in the podunk town of Mona. While on the flats he discovers some dog tags buried in the sand. Little does he know that someone else is looking for these dog tags and starts to track him down.
Something that I really loved about his book was the fact that the voice was so unique and different from most LDS fiction. After you read a lot of LDS books they all start to sound the same. The voices all start to blend together and there is very little stylistic difference. This was more true in the past then now. I remember a time when Chris Heimerdinger was the only one that had an incredibly unique and strong individual voice among LDS fiction. Even now, I think he is the most distinctive. Anyway, this author made me feel like I was hanging out with my younger brother again when he was in his obsessed with cars stage. She really showed the characters by adding careful details instead of skipping over them in order to get to the “real” story. I loved that about this book. For that reason alone I would pick it up again. Not only that, but the hook of the story really interested me. Who is this guy who is trying to find these dog tags? And what is going to happen when he does?

80 Miles to nowhere is Melissa Aylstock's second book check out her website for the inspiration for the book, and a radio interview.

website: http://www.melissaaylstock.com/