Review: Ask Him Why by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Ask Him Why

by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Pages: 346

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Ruth and her little brother, Aubrey, are just teenagers when their older brother ships off to Iraq. When Joseph returns, uninjured, only three and a half months later, Ruth is happy he is safe but also deeply worried. How can it be that her courageous big brother has been dishonorably discharged for refusing to go out on duty? Aubrey can’t believe that his hero doesn’t have very good reasons.

Yet as the horrifying details of the incident emerge, Joseph disappears. In their attempts to find him, Ruth and Aubrey discover he has a past far darker than either of them could imagine. But even as they learn more about their brother, important questions remain unanswered—why did he betray his unit, his country, and now his family? Joseph’s refusal to speak ignites a fire in young Aubrey that results in a disastrous, and public, act of rebellion.

The impact of Joseph’s fateful decision one night in Baghdad will echo for years to come, with his siblings caught between their love for him and the media’s engulfing frenzy of judgment. Will their family ever make their way back to each other and find a way to forgive?


Kritters Thoughts:  When something happens to someone it also happens to their families and this book tells the story of how the family is affected as their eldest son comes home very early from war because something has happened.  With alternating chapters from the other two children of the family they tell of how this big thing affected them at school and at home.  

I really enjoy family dramas and this one took an interesting twist with the other children narrating the story instead of the child who brought the tragedy home.  I liked how the story was told in three parts, so the reader gets to see these children at three different moments in their life and how each of them reacted to it.  Each child goes down a different path and I appreciated that the author presented both reactions.

I have read this author before and love how honest her books feel.  She has quite the back list and I wouldn't mind reading them, but not sure I can read her back to back as her books can feel a little heavy.


Rating:  definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from BookSparks PR.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.