Review: Book of Days by James L Rubart

Cameron Vaux is desperate. Though only 33 years old, he’s starting to lose his memories. Memories of all-too-few years with his wife, Jessie. Memories of his dad, who had Alzheimers and died too young. And memories of things he’d done last week. Or even yesterday.

Both his dad and Jessie had spoken of something they’d seen in the Oregon mountains, a book that showed the future and the past. A book, his dad said, that contained all one’s days. Before he died, he told Cameron it would cure him of his memory loss, if only he could find it.

Eight years later, Cameron is desperate enough to go on a wild goose chase to Three Peaks, Oregon. He invites Jessie’s best friend, Ann, to come along. Together they search the town and the area for information about the Book of Days. A cult has sprung up here worshiping the mythical book–or is it real? One man, Taylor Stone, seems to hold the key. But he’s not talking.

I couldn’t figure out why Cameron asked Ann on this journey, or why she came, since the two had never gotten along in the past. Still, she has her uses as a climbing companion, lock picker, and romantic interest. Even with that question in mind, I enjoyed following Cameron and Ann’s adventures as they tracked the rumors about the book and deliberated whether it was all a New Age hoax or a carefully guarded secret of truth. As with his previous book, Rooms, Rubart rides the line between a contemporary novel and speculative.

The concept for Book of Days comes from Psalm 139:16–“Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.” The author shares what a comfort this verse was to him when Alzheimers claimed his own dad. His dad’s memories weren’t gone completely–God still knew where they were and had recorded them in his book.

James L Rubart loves God, his wife, his boys, writing, speaking, playing guitar, and golf, in that order. He dabbles in photography and owns a marketing company called Barefoot Marketing, a full service ad agency, marketing, and consulting firm for businesses and authors.

Jim was the keynote speaker for the Inland Northwest Writers Conference in March, which is where (and when) I bought this book. I was so challenged by his topics as a speaker that I asked him if I could interview him here on the blog. Check back Friday for that interview!