The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah TintiSamuel Hawley has twelve scars on his body and he has never told his daughter Loo (short for Louise) anything about them. Now that she’s older she knows they are from bullet wounds, and that her dad must be in some kind of trouble because they tend live in motels and move around a lot. The year Loo turns twelve things change. They rent a house in New England near the home of a grandmother she doesn’t remember, she grows up, gets a job, falls in love, but it seems like the past just can’t let them go.
This turned out to be a great pairing with The Hearts of Men -- what makes a good father? Can you do bad things and still be a good person? Hawley is an interesting character and we learn the story of his past through the stories of the scar. Each bullet wound is a chapter. Alternating chapters focus on the present, and Loo’s life, and the father-daughter duo comes to terms with living a “normal” life.
Loo doesn’t remember her mother since she died when Loo was an infant, but the shrine her father creates to Lily in each place they live is a testament to his undying love for her as well as his inability to let go of the past. The is a damaged and haunted man trying to do right by his daughter by sheltering her from his life, but Loo is more like her father than he realizes.
Fans of Lee Child and Vince Flynn will enjoy getting to know Samuel Hawley. Yes, he’s on the wrong side of the law, but he’s trying so hard to right wrongs and be good but the past sometimes refuses to let go.
