The Last Exchange
Charles Martin
356 pages
Thomas Nelson
published October 23, 2024
While this is not an easy story to read, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s the heartbreaking story of Joe Sue and Pockets as they weave themselves in and out of each other’s lives. Theirs is an unlikely friendship with Joe Sue being a Hollywood star and Pockets an ex-military man. They surprise each other as their friendship develops and continues long after he is no longer her bodyguard. These characters are highly flawed but still so engaging. I was rooting for Joe Sue to persevere from the start. The more I learned about them the more I respected them and the more I wanted to know.
It’s a complex story that is told in before and after chapters, of what, the reader isn’t sure of at first. There is a little bit of everything in this one and the writing is beautiful. Pockets has the coolest name, am I right, and he might be my favorite character of the year. This one surprised me in so many ways.
It is ultimately about having faith, being saved and trusting in others. Who doesn’t need a little more of that in our lives? I’ll be thinking about this one for a while.
“Here’s the catch—even if I make it out of here alive, I need a reason to breathe again.”
When MacThomas Pockets finished his last tour as part of the Scottish Special Forces, he was hired to consult for a film director to finesse some scenes that weren’t working. In a twist he never saw coming, he ended up moving to L.A. to work as the bodyguard for movie star Maybe Joe Sue.
It didn’t take long for Pockets to realize there were two Joe Sues: The Joe Sue the public saw with her perfect life and her Hollywood husband. And the private Joe Sue: the one with the traumatic youth that no amount of pills could cover up, who desperately wanted a child of her own.
Even after their paths diverged, he continued to track Joe Sue’s life. Only a few would notice when the bottom fell out. But he did. And that’s when he stepped in.
The latest novel from New York Times bestselling author Charles Martin travels from Hollywood to rural Montana as one man answers the question: How far would you go—really—to save someone you love?
Leave a Reply