Well... Did I Keep Jake?

In my last post I wrote about my new friend, Jake Fisher. Since then I have gotten to know Jake a little better and have seen how his story ends. I have to say that Harlan Coben, the man responsible for introducing me to Jake, weaves an interesting story. There were several times that I thought I had it all figured out, but I turned out to be completely mistaken. As much as I like to be right in real life, I love it when the books I read aren’t predictable.

As I said in my last post, Jake lost the love of his life six years ago when Natalie married another man. The story begins when he sees the obituary of this man and decides to go to the funeral. Instead of finding a grieving Natalie, however, he finds that Todd has left behind a different widow and their two teenaged children. The search begins, and continues, despite several warnings and near brushes with death.

The way Jake describes the Todd Sanderson that he saw marry his beloved Natalie, he had shaggy hair and well-manicured stubble, yet in the pictures he sees of Todd throughout the years he had short hair and is shaven. When Jake looks into Todd’s academic history (Todd happens to be an alumni of the college at which Jake is a professor), he finds that Todd was an exemplary student until he took a personal leave of absence. When he returned he is described as being “distracted,” and “clearly bitter and not the same.” All of this lead me to believe that Todd Sanderson had some sort of evil twin or doppelganger. Strike one.

As Jake begins to look into Natalie’s disappearance, he decides to go back to where they met: an artist’s retreat in Vermont. He re-traces his steps to the retreat itself, which he finds to be a family farm that, according to police, has been there for generations. No artist’s retreat ever existed there. He then goes to the church in which Natalie and Todd were married. There was no record of the wedding in the meticulously kept files, and the minister insists that no one was married on that day. When he returns and tells all of this to his best friend, Benedict, he reminds Jake that he had been going through a difficult time that summer following his father’s death and asks him why he never met Natalie. Obviously, the assumption is that Jake is either completely nuts or is having a nervous breakdown. Strike two.

Ian McKellen as Leigh Teabing

Throughout the book Jake mentions his mentor, Malcom Hume, and he is constantly connected to the mystery that surrounds Natalie. He is revealed to have been instrumental in defending Todd when he was brought before the College Board for expulsion following a violent incident. He was present when Natalie’s father disappeared twenty years ago. Yet, in spite of Jake’s phone calls to Professor Hume, he doesn't actually appear in the book. This makes me wonder if it is a case of Hume being the man behind the disappearances and behind the attacks. It reminds me a little of Leigh Teabing in The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown. Strike Three. I’m out.

As the story progresses, Jake discovers that Todd’s charity, Fresh Start, was not an organization that provides cosmetic surgery to burn victims and children born with cleft palates as it is made out to be. Instead, it is a secret organization that is like Witness Protection on steroids. The people involved carry cyanide pills. They mean business. The mob is involved, and everything from Natalie’s father to Benedict is tied in to Fresh Start.

Hugh Jackman

I won’t reveal the end, but I will say that I was satisfied with the ending and that Jake will remain a friend of mine. I have read that there is talk of making a movie based on Six Years, and Hugh Jackman is rumored to be attached to star as Jake. I can understand why. It has the action that men seem to like in a film, and the romance that women enjoy, all surrounded by a really great mystery. My one complaint about Six Years is that I never really got a chance to get to know Natalie. Jake is great, don’t get me wrong. He is relatable and reminds me a lot of myself, but I would have really liked to have been able to know the woman he loves. She seems to be a really interesting character that deserves to have her voice heard. I can’t help but wonder what she was up to for the six years that she and Jake were apart. I guess I’ll leave that to my own imagination.

I'll keep you posted.