True Believer
Nicholas Sparks
Warner Books

Lovers of Nicholas Sparks' novels are for the big treat of their life as they read True Believer. The characters created in the story are so vivid and the period details are so contemporary that the reader has a hard time believing that he or she is reading a work of fiction. It is a true work of literature, for the life sketched in it is vibrant and catches the reader's attention right from the first page. Literature, after all, is supposed to have its ends strung to real life. Readers are also in for a surprise, for unlike other books of Nicholas Sparks this book balances a love story with a mystery. Sparks is mostly widely read for his romantic tragedies. The mystery and the love story run on parallel plot lines all through this book.
Jeremy Marsh, the investigative journalist, like all journalists is always on the chase for good stories. His work takes him all across the USA. Even on weekends he is running after his stories like a bug on a June flower. His first marriage ends for the very reason that he is not able to give time to his wife Maria. Finding himself single he gives his time to his work all the more. He is passionate about his work. A journalist in heart and soul, he never hesitates to go wherever his assignments take him. Just after he has exposed a fake fortuneteller in New York he finds his work calling him to go to Boone Creek in North Carolina. There is this story of the mysterious lights in Cedar Creek Cemetery in this quiet place of NC. He has been reading about this mysterious phenomenon in different newspapers and then decides to do his story on it. The story goes round that in winter, from January to February blue lights dance on the headstones whenever fog rolls in. He receives a letter from a resident of Boone Creek asking him to unravel the mystery. The investigative journalist in him finds it hard to resist the temptation to discover the truth behind the lights that the local people term as ghosts. Soon he is out to debunk the supernatural and there he is in Boone Creek, getting to know the quiet country as he starts his work on the ghostly lights.
In Boone Creek Jeremy meets Doris, the diviner. An elderly lady, Doris is well known for her special powers to see into the future. Jeremy has little belief in these supernatural powers of people but is perplexed as he meets the large number of people who have strong support for Doris's divine powers, especially her ability of predicting an unborn child's sex. The whole community of Boone Creek stands unified under its beliefs in the ghosts of the cemetery. The people firmly believe in Doris and her ability to foretell the future. Jeremy, when he faces these strange happenings in the quiet town, feels that they are a challenge to his career. The inquisitive man in him is roused all the more when meets the granddaughter of Doris, Lexie Darnell.
Jeremy meets the librarian Lexie Darnell at the public library when he goes to do some research in the library. Lexie is beautiful and intelligent and there seems to be a mysterious halo surrounding her all the time. Lexie has been brought up by her grandparents, her parents having died in a car crash when she was just three years old. Jeremy, thirty-seven and still single, has not ever thought that any woman would make him feel like settling down, that is until he meets Lexie. There is also a sweet charm and calmness in Lexie that makes Jeremy want to be around her. Jeremy is also puzzled by this bright young woman's beliefs in the supernatural things around her country. Still, he wants to know her better. However, the mayor of that country seems to be an old friend of Lexie and Jeremy is not sure how far their friendship goes. Mayor Gherkin makes it a point that Jeremy gets to know about his feelings for Lexie. After many years Jeremy thinks more about a woman than about his work. And one evening with trepidations in his heart he confesses to Lexie,
" What if I don't think it's a sacrifice? What if I tell you that I'd rather be with you than go back to my old lonely life?"
Jeremy is not sure of Lexie's reactions to his feelings and yet he is ready to take a chance, while in the background Mayor Gherkin seems to hold a vital key.
As an investigative journalist, Jeremy gets down to finding out the mystery of the lights of the cemetery. Jeremy's writing about the supernatural phenomenon will bring tourists into the quiet country. However, there are people who stand firmly against outsiders pouring into Boone Creek once Jeremy starts writing about the supernatural phenomenon. The community wants its age-old beliefs to remain as they have. There is Lexie, ready to help out Jeremy unravel the mystery for the sake of his work. On the other hand, she wants Jeremy to see the lights and believe in them. Jeremy is perplexed as he finds that Lexie firmly believes that her parents who were buried in the Cedar Creek Cemetery come to visit her with the strange lights. Jeremy has a firm belief that there are no such things as ghosts. But at Boone Creek some incidents occur that have him question his own beliefs. This paradox justifies the title of the book as True Believer. Jeremy, as an investigative journalist, has many confrontations in his career. And in Boone Creek he faces rivalry as after many years his heart sets to seek out a soulmate.
The spiraling mystery surrounding the quiet life of the people of Boone Creek, their zealous efforts to retain their individuality absorbs the reader, making him feel that he is part of the story. The protagonist Jeremy's character is very much that of a contemporary journalist who takes up all challenges with determination. Jeremy sows into the reader the seed of a likeable character so that the reader too is left with wanting all the good things for him. When Lexie keeps him at arm's length the reader feels like whispering to Lexie, "Go, he is the man you have been waiting for." The magic of Sparks' ability to draw out a wonderful romance into his stories is there. Romance whispers its sweet tales as Jeremy and Lexie are attracted to each other in the most unlikely circumstances. Yet the climax reaches an amazing and unexpected peak, leaving the reader breathless with the twists and turns.
The structure of the work is very intriguing and yet deftly handled. The author demonstrates the mastery of creating a tale that has suspense mixed with love and humour. This book can be the beginning of some passionate reading for those who are just starting to read books by this author.
Tulip Chowdhury is a teacher and writes fiction