Review: Colin Dray – The Sign

The Sign
Colin Dray

Sam’s cancer came back, and it literally took his voice away. After his operation, Sam’s angry and confused. Why him? His aunt keeps telling him that silence equates with being strong, but Sam doesn’t know what to think. When his aunt tells Sam and his younger sister that his parents are getting back together and they need to go to Perth, Sam is happy to sit back for the ride…

What confused me was why Sam didn’t just ‘speak up’ anyway. He could write, couldn’t he? Wasn’t he sneaky enough that his aunt wouldn’t notice? He was allowed to go to the bathroom by himself. He could have slipped someone a note. Why is it that when it is too late he finally does something? He’s not that dumb is he?

I think that the blurb made a really big deal of the bushfires but those really didn’t come into play until near the very end of the novel. Additionally, the cover tried to tell me a moral: ‘Sometimes even the best intentions can lead you down a very dangerous road’. Perhaps, perhaps, but I didn’t actually get that from the story. His aunt didn’t have the best intentions at mind in all. She only had her own intentions in mind, and that’s clear to the reader from the start. Not even the least bit of sympathy from me.

I hated how everyone just dismissed Leo’s disappearance. Couldn’t they see that things were a bit crazy? I think that he was murdered, but I didn’t have my suspicions confirmed or denied and that drove me crazy! I hate books with no endings, and lately that’s what I’ve been getting. Actually, that’s why I’ll only be giving this novel 3 stars.