RaveThe Tampa Bay TimesIt is hard to wrap one's mind around the concept that an escaped convict holing up in your home and tying you to a chair is a good thing. Even as Frank bakes them a pie, even as he plays catch with Henry and teaches him to throw a baseball properly, even as Adele and Frank fall in love, there's an underlying sense of menace … The novel is an extended meditation on the nature of love, grief and loneliness. As Adele and Frank gradually reveal the blows that life has dealt them, Henry struggles in the jaws of puberty to think straight and decide what really matters. Maynard has created an ensemble of characters that will sneak into your heart, and warm it while it breaks.
