Families in Crisis

This compelling study of a family in need of rescue is very effective, owing to Greenwood's (Two Rivers) eloquent, exquisite word artistry and her knack for developing subtle, suspenseful scenes. California residents Sam and Mena Mason have returned to a rural Vermont cabin near where Sam was raised. Having spent many an idyllic summer here with their twins, Franny and Finn, this is the first here since Franny's tragic death. Sam, a blocked writer, carries his grief like a weight; Mena is filled with fear that her marriage is unraveling and that Finn is in danger; sullen, self-destructive Finn's anger is enormous. This summer together seems a test complete with struggles, strengths, and second chances. Greenwood plaits Sam's attempts to salvage his family with the parallel tales of Finn's growing camaraderie with a local teen and a hopeful but obsessed admirer of Sam's. VERDICT Somewhat reminiscent of Rebecca Johnson's And Sometimes Why, Hyatt Bass's The Embers, Judith Guest's Ordinary People, and Alice Hoffman's The Story Sisters, Greenwood's sensitive and gripping examination of a family in crisis is real, complex, and anything but formulaic.—Andrea Tarr, Corona P.L., CA

Devastated by her husband's sudden death two years ago, Kate is catapulted from her cocoon of grief when she discovers that her family is in crisis. Hunter, her four-year-old son, clutches ketchup bottles for comfort. Rebellious teenager Charlotte skips school, flaunts a pierced tongue and tattoo, and sucks face with Ren, a surprise boyfriend, at school. Even in the romance arena, Kate despairs of the attention she is receiving from Foster, the delicious and divorced father of Charlotte's friend Bree. Ironically, Kate is a high school guidance counselor who deals successfully with broken kids, just not her own. Letting someone slip through the cracks is the echoing theme of Kate's current struggle at home and work. VERDICT In her second novel (after Starting Out Sideways), Mitchell pitches life's hardball themes of death, grief, and redemption with piercing clarity and magically interlaces romance and humor into her family saga. Highly recommended for contemporary fiction readers.—Mary Ellen Elsbernd, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights