Romance, intrigue, mystery and action. This story has it all … or perhaps not. Critically acclaimed writer Nicholas Sparks (“Message in a Bottle”), master of the bestseller “A Bend in the Road,” tries hard to make a romantic mystery that will knock readers’ socks off.

Some of Sparks’ avid fans will surely end up barefoot and breathless, but those readers who wear socks snugly will shrug slightly, put the book down and go padding away, not giving “A Bend in the Road” a second thought.

Granted, Sparks is not a poor writer. Obviously, he is a highly revered and respected juggernaut when it comes to writing bestselling novels. Admittedly, “A Bend in the Road” is not a bad story; it is perhaps even a decent story. It, however, is not a good story.

True, the novel has its moments. Sparks uses a writing style that is simple and easy to follow, and he shows an astute cleverness in some of his passages.

The thoughts of one of the main characters illustrates this.

“`You’re beautiful and charming and I can’t stop thinking about last night.’ No, he didn’t say that. Not exactly, anyway. What Sarah heard was, `Hey. How are you?’ “

However, Sparks’ biggest problem is his characters, who seem to have a habit of getting on one’s nerves. The foremost example of this is Miles Ryan.

Miles was a good husband and father until his wife was killed in a hit-and-run accident while jogging.

Understandably, he goes off the deep end, but Miles does not know how to let things go. It has been more than two years, and he is still a loaded gun waiting to shoot the person who `purposely’ ran his beloved down in cold blood.

Miles, fabulously employed as a deputy sheriff, makes it his life quest to bring his wife’s `murderer’ to justice. After all, he concludes, `eye for an eye,’ just like the Bible.

The only one who can quell the wrath of Deputy Ryan is the lovely second grade teacher Sarah Andrews. She is a mentor to Miles’ son Jonah and the instant infatuation of Jonah’s father.

Sarah, like Miles, lost her spouse, but not the way that Miles did. Her husband handed her divorce papers soon after he found out that she was infertile. Due to their common loss, they hit it off, and soon fall madly in love.

Once in love, Sarah’s troubles are all gone, but Ryan’s remain. Every time something comes up about his deceased wife, he turns into a ruthless avenger with bad manners.

All the while, Sarah holds his hand and pats his head when she should be jumping up and down and telling him to pay attention to her.

In the end, Miles must choose between his glorious quest for retribution or the woman he loves.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this story is when the narration switches between the romance of the two lovers and the confessions of the person, anonymous and elusive, who hit Miles’ wife. Sparks was quite crafty in this, not revealing who the actual killer is until a critical moment in the story.

The killer, fearful and ashamed, goes through more trauma than Miles, and begins stalking the broken family in hopes of finding something to exonerate himself.

Truly, “A Bend in the Road” is not a bad book and should not be seen as poor writing, but the problem lies in that it is a bestseller.

Do not be fooled into thinking “A Bend in the Road” is one of the best-written books in the nation. Due to the author’s precedence, the novel sneaked in on the weight of past books.