Review: Every Seventh Wave

Synopsis

Have you ever just clicked with someone? 

Emmi and Leo met, fell in love and broke up via e-mail. After a year of silence, they find themselves in contact once more. Yet Emmi is still married to Bernhard, and Leo is just back from Boston with Pamela, his American girlfriend.

As the e-mails grow increasingly passionate, Emmi and Leo are faced with a difficult decision: could their romance survive the transition from digital to actual, or is it the distance that is keeping them together?


Review

Will they? Won't they? Will they? No they won't...Oh wait may they will...Oh wait...hold on... I spoke too soon..

The will won't they conundrum, probably the most used devise in romance. It becomes weary in the wrong hands, however with Glattauer at the helm, the device works by creating atmosphere and intensity. Every Seventh Wave could have been repetitive and mind numbing, on the contrary it is bold, creative and credible in its build up to the finale.  This is the sequel to Love Virtually which was triumphant read, fully of surprises all conducted via email. This is a story about people; Emmi and Leo who meet by accident via email and develop a virtual relationship which intensifies as the book develops.At the end of Love Virtually Leo leaves Germany for Boston and the reader is left with no clue as to whether these two will ever get together.  Every Seventh Wave carries on a few months where Leo comes back to home from Boston.

These two are perfect for each other in every way except for the fact that Emmi has a husband and Leo has a girlfriend. As the book develops they start to question what they mean to each other and most importantly if they do mean something what is that something. As I read Every Seventh Wave, I was able to connect with the sense of not knowing, the uncertainty of their relationships like most things in life became frustrating, i wanted to know right there and then, I didn't want the complication, or the family, I wanted the two characters to come in an explosive end with no complications.

This book was tedious to read at times, the not knowing started to frustrate me, the emails were getting longer as both characters despaired and the longer they got, the more tedious it was reading them. However Glattauer brings it back at the end with his punchy one liners and funny anecdotes. I think of this book as a packet of Pringles, once opened it must be consumed in one sitting. It is impossible to put down this book, even with long emails, this book has a tremendous pull that draws the reader deeper and deeper as the characters complicate the situation even more. Glattauer rivals Gayle or dare I say if they were to battle it, Glattauer would win by a small margin. Glattauer reminds me of a younger Mike Gayle before he published the truly awful Brand New Friend.

Every Seventh Wave is a fantastic read, well crafted and superbly written.