The plot revolves around a family in which a father leaves without much reason that I could detect, a daughter who seems so filled with anger that she thinks nothing of breaking several very serious laws, a disengaged son whose marijuana habit is uninhibited by his parents, and a wife who makes no attempt to control her almost violent resentment and, in fact, seems to enjoy exhibiting it to her children. And yet the author tries to assure the reader that the members of this very odd family all really, truly, love each other. The unfaithful husband still calls his ex-wife "Sweetheart", if you can believe that. Okay, so the husband and wife were probably better off without each other in the long run, and okay, the kids turned out to be not quite as bad as they could have been. But the fact remains that absolutely no one in that family inspires any respect or sympathy, regardless of all the contrived reasons and excuses the author finds for their outrageous behavior.

The sad fact is that, in spite of all of the above, Mr. Evans has written an interesting and solid story about this totally dysfunctional group of very unpleasant people. The plot moves along nicely, the inevitable major events occur when they are expected, and there are some poignant family exchanges that somewhat dilute the reader's dislike of the characters. It is astonishing to me that this story, so filled with disloyalty, deceit, abandonment, criminality, violence, and blatantly open drug abuse should not find its eventual way to the real reason for all the strange behavior. Instead, as the action of the plot gradually resolves itself the reader is still left wondering how such very odd people could ever come to terms with their own unfortunate personalities, much less with the tragedy that befalls them. Moreover, one wonders why the author seems to feel that these terrible people are so sympathetic and worth saving that he allows the investigating policeman to make the decision to discard the evidence that would at least allow us the satisfaction of seeing one of the characters properly brought to justice.

In fiction, as well as in life, unhappy situations need to be resolved, on way or another. It is not enough, particularly in an otherwise fine novel, for the reader to be dragged through the life sludge of such an unattractive family, only to have the author tack on a half-hearted "happily ever after" as though even he couldn't handle dealing with them any longer.

Like Mr. Evans' characters, this is a good book gone wrong, and it is truly a shame.
Review by Litera Scripta