This book is so hard for me to follow. I have read all Charles Martin books and enjoyed them all until now. I'm sure there is a deep meaning of love & survival that I will figure out toward or at the end (I'm half way through) but to be honest I would just put it down & forget it if it wasn't his book. The before & after are confusing but the worse is the beginning....first few chapters. I had no idea what was happening and still fairly confused. Not a good read for me this time! GAIL