The story of Ben Quinn, a man with suppressed rage and a lifetime of resentment against his parents, who returns to his childhood home of Montana to confront his past and the family secrets he only just learned about from his father. As he boards the plane that will take him to Billings, he knows he must face the rage and confusion that have colored his life and his other relationships. He knows that the traumas of his childhood must, somehow, give up their power over him if he is to ever be able to move forward. And he also knows that exposing his childhood secrets will change the lives of everyone he loves.
This work of literary fiction is told partially in flashbacks, and partially in present day, allowing the reader to see the immediacy of how Ben’s past impacts his life in the present time. The main character is not always easy to love. When we first meet him, he comes off as arrogant. But as the book progresses it becomes clear that these character defects are really defense mechanisms and are not reflective of the true nature of the man. Ben has learned to wear many masks in order to deal with his past and with the emotional aftermath of that past, and any reader with insight will be able to relate to that experience, even if the details are different. Indeed, this is both a gripping story that keeps you reading for hours and a meditation on how our past colors our entire lives. And in that way, its message is universal. Ben, who is gay and struggles with general family issues, becomes a sort of hero and role model for his willingness to walk through the pain of his past in order to get past it. It’s a formula that most of us could benefit from but that very few of us have the bravery to undertake.
Beautifully written, with plot twists (which I won’t reveal here) and more than a few surprises and revelatory moments, this is also a meditation on wholeness and letting go of pain. A work of family fiction that is funny and moving at the same time and that stays with you long after you've finished reading it.
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The chilling story of the abduction of two teenagers, their escape, and the dark secrets that, years later, bring them back to the scene of the crime. | Learn more
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