The Speed of Light by Elissa Grossell Dickey

The Speed of Light centers on Simone, a young woman dealing with a recent diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. She is navigating what the disease will mean for her life moving forward, and worrying about her job at a local university that is currently going through budget cuts. Simone meets a nice guy one night on her way to visit her parents when her car breaks down and she accepts a ride from him. Connor seems great, but is romance in the cards with everything else going on in her life at the moment? Flash forward to just over a year later, on a work day that starts like any other, and sudden gunshots turn the ordinary into a fight for survival. Facing down degenerative nerve damage as her disease progresses is something Simone has been working on, but dying at the hands of a gunman had never entered her mind. The book alternates between Simone's current predicament and her memories of the past year; the relationships she has strengthened, those that have fallen apart, and the friends new and old she has made along the way.

Elissa Grossell Dickey's characters are well written, the dialogue is sharp and witty, and the fear and pain were palpable in the past and present parts of Simone's life. I truly enjoyed this debut novel and would recommend that other readers give it a try.

Final rating: ★★★★☆

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