Strong at the Broken Places

Nick Fister started running to prove to his abusive, drunk, and heartless father that there is one thing he’s actually good at. It started as a bet and a personal challenge, and it ended up being something more, something he could hold on to when life was too much for him to handle and he needed to channel all of his anger, frustration, and grief into something that offered him peace. As a result, he became one of the best ultra runners in the U.S., with a reputation and a series of records in Europe as well. Now, at the end of his extremely successful career, he’s competing at the toughest race of his life. Not only is he running against time to beat the existing record but he’s also trying to prove his innocence while being a suspect in a murder investigation.

Nick’s wife is cheating on him with his crew chief, who is found brutally murdered the morning of Nick’s last race. His daughter commited suicide a few days before that same race, and there’s another Nick Fister, who is stalking Nick, and he won’t stop at anything until he gets what he’s after.

The plot is interesting, nicely executed, and well written. The novel’s characters are everyday people who may seem perfect on the outside, but each one has their own secrets to keep and carry. Strong At The Broken Places is a book about Nick’s life, something like a memoir, readers might say. Throughout the story, Nick introduces us to a different chapter of his life, and with that, to new characters and incidents that may seem completely independent and irrelevant, but when combined, altogether as we get closer to the end of the book, complete the missing pieces of Nick’s life and answer plenty of the questions readers may have. It’s a story about finding yourself, facing your inner demons, forgiving, dealing with loss, and despite all that, still moving forward.