Steve Gannon: Allison (A Kane Novel)

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Highly recommended - emotionally charged and well written
After "Song for the Asking" and "Kane" I wondered how Steve Gannon could keep up the pace with a book about Allison, Kane's only daughter. The answer is that Steve has written a somewhat different book which is one of the most emotional and compelling books I have read in a long time. While this book can be read as a stand-alone story, you will appreciate this book more if you read the earlier books in order.

The Kane series takes you on an emotional roller-coaster with an apparently dysfunctional family dominated by Dan Kane,  a tough and uncompromising homicide detective with LAPD.  Despite Kane's autocratic dominance (Allison calls him "Godzilla"), the family is glued together by shared experiences, love and respect, and they all follow without question the family dogma that "Kane's stand together, no matter what".

Allison, the only daughter, is approaching her 20th birthday and wants to spread her wings outside the family influence.  While she has a great strength to succeed instilled by her father, she is tortured by terrible emotional wounds from a violent sexual assault that she keeps hidden deep within her.  When by chance she gets offered a job in a local TV newsroom she comes head to head with her father's distrust and hatred of media interference with his work. At the same time the family faces what could potentially be its most devastating event since the death of Allison's elder brother.

While "Allison" contains a great homicide police procedural story, the main story is an emotional and adult coming of age story where Allison battles for independence from her family and to overcome her deep emotional wounds. Her dilemma is clear when her older brother Travis says to her "It's time for you to ask yourself what's really important. It's not school or work or any of these other things. It's family. It's the people you love and who love you."

A review of "Kane" said "Well done, Steve Gannon, you managed to emotionally flog me!"  This time the emotions were not so gut wrenching, but I do admit to "tearing up" a few times as Allison faced up to the challenges of her life and her relationship with her family. There are not many books that can have that kind of effect on me.

Well done Steve Gannon. You are an outstanding author who can outshine many of the most popular best-selling authors of the genre.