Where The Soul Goes by Katherine Silva is a story that gave me such an intense book-hangover that a full month after finishing it, I’m sitting down for the who-knows-what-number of time to try to write up my review, determined to get something down this time. Needless to say, Kat has done it again! What a book!
Content Warnings: Acephobia, Attempted Murder/Murder, Blood/Bones, Burn Victims, Car Accident, Child Death, Conversion Therapy, Cults, Death, Depression, Drowning, Fire, Gun Violence, Hallucinations, Homophobia, Hospitalization, Hostages/Kidnapping, Profanity, Terminal Illness, Terrorism, Violence, and Religious Ideology.
Let’s dive in!
My Thoughts on Where The Soul Goes by Katherine Silva –
Eliot Lamb has two weeks. With the clock ticking and things literally heating up every day, Eliot encounters Death in the form of an old friend. Death makes him a proposition: find four people and change their lives. No more direction, no less. He’s ready to brush it off and let The Ash take over, but when he suddenly finds himself a target of the FBI, Eliot and his new friend Terry take off to try to complete Death’s mission before it’s too late.
What happens next will give readers a whirlwind of emotions as the characters are swept along while facing one intense situation after another.
My Favorite Passages from Where The Soul Goes –
The sentence is like peanut butter on the roof of his mouth, like he is trying to figure out a way to unstick it, but the words glue themselves to his palette.
The saltiness in the air fades away, the sound of water lapping departs as the van moves deeper into the countryside. Fields that once held corn are now mass graves of brittle stalks bent over as if bowing to a superior force of nature. The eldritch silhouettes of trees tower in the distance behind them.
Eliot rolls his shoulders back as if trying to roll back the time-traveling his mind had just been on and indulges in a helping of the casserole.
They slogged through bogs or open fields, movements slow and aimless, eyes burning like fireflies in the darkness of day.
“The very idea of me used to be a thrill. I used to invigorate people, used to motivate them to get their shit done. Now, it feels like I’ve lost my edge. It’s like people are just waiting for me to show up like I’m late to the party or something.”
The words had been like being stabbed with something hollow, something that not only impaled him but also sucked at him. Like a straw. He was the Goddamn plastic lid on a Goddamn soda drink, everything fizzing and turbulent underneath as he realized how his reaction had hurt the person he cared about most.
They drive through the emptiness beyond Jackal, passing old farmhouses with barn doors that have crept open, a gentle breeze rolling through the seas of wet grass in the fields beyond them, rusted out farm equipment left in the fields to become sculpture art of a pastoral era.
Told me to always take time for stars. Always take time for the things that the world shows us because someday, we might not be as lucky. It took me a while before I understood what he meant. Now, I pay attention. I try to.”
My Final Thoughts on Where The Soul Goes –
This is a story with so much heart wrapped up in an absolutely terrifying world. The title is so perfect for its content, but also, while reading, your soul will seep into these pages, and the story won’t let you go without leaving a mark.
Readers of any genre, you gotta pick this one up!
Purchase your copy of Where The Soul Goes
