17 December 2019

The Camera Never Lies | Book Review + Excerpt


ABOUT THE BOOK


David Rawlings, author of The Baggage Handler, returns with another probing story: what would you do if your secrets were revealed to those around you?

Daniel Whiteley is a successful couples counselor who regularly puts families back together, helping them face up to the things in life they hide. But his own marriage is falling apart.

His wife, Kelly, knows Daniel is hiding something from her, but she doesn’t dare probe for fear her own secrets will be revealed.

When his grandfather dies, Daniel inherits an old SLR camera from a time when cameras pointed away from the person taking the photograph. On the camera is an inscription: “Use this camera wisely and remember, regardless of the picture you think you took, the camera never lies.”

When Daniel first uses his new camera he finds someone has already filled the roll of film. Annoyed, he processes the film and finds photos of a secret that he’s been hiding from his wife and daughter.

He has no idea who took them.

Now every time he uses the camera, the photographs reveal another secret about himself the he is desperate to keep-as well as those of his wife, which he is desperate to uncover.

Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Release Date: December 3, 2019


MY REVIEW

Daniel Whitely’s family is falling apart—though no one could guess the truth from the appearances he works tirelessly to maintain. However, when he receives a camera from his grandfather, it becomes harder and harder for him to hide the truth.

As Daniel and his family deal with damaging secrets in The Camera Never Lies, David Rawlings delivers an insightful moral tale about the freedom of coming clean. While the message is an important reminder, it does overshadow other aspects, and as a result, the characters remain underdeveloped caricatures for the duration of the plot. I would have liked to see more personality from the Whitely family as they discover the value of honesty.

Still, The Camera Never Lies proves a thought-provoking read, and it could be exactly what many readers need.


I received a complimentary copy of this book and the opportunity to provide an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Rawlings is an Australian author, and a sports-mad father of three who loves humor and a clever turn of phrase. Over a 25-year career he has put words on the page to put food on the table, developing from sports journalism and copywriting to corporate communication. Now in fiction, he entices readers to look deeper into life with stories that combine the everyday with a sense of the speculative, addressing the fundamental questions we all face.


EXCERPT

Read the first few chapters now.

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