by David Gates
First published 2000
Doug Willis gets arrested while camping with his wife and kids. This isn't how most midlife crises start, but Doug takes a different path. He abandons his PR job and retreats to his farmhouse in rural Preston Falls, leaving his wife Jean to handle the bills and their difficult children alone. Doug plugs in his guitar and tries to disappear from his responsibilities. His plans for a peaceful break collapse into a mess of Dewars and cocaine. Jean struggles to keep their family together while Doug spirals downward in his rural hideaway. A broken window and an unguarded gun pull Doug deeper into trouble. A questionable small town lawyer makes everything worse. Doug discovers he cannot simply walk away from his life and return when convenient. The crisis forces him to confront what he has destroyed and what he truly wants.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Preston Falls
Period: Midlife
352 pages · Paperback · Orion Pub Co
Content warnings: addiction, alcohol-abuse, drug-use