There's lots of quiet mourning in Bausch's elegiac novel set in Columbia Beach, Md., a tourist town that's seen better days. County sheriff David Caldwell is in town on a professional mission-to open up the disused jail-and a much more important personal one: to reunite with his 20-year-old son, Todd, who's spent five years in a "juvenile detention center." When he was 13, Todd killed his younger brother, Bobby, and his father, plagued with anguish at the loss, still wonders whether the slaying was accidental or murder. Columbia Beach hardly seems to need a jail, except for the problematic Cecil Edwards, who terrorizes the town with his unpredictable behavior. Less happens than one might think given the novel's aura of violence. The main theme is grief assuaged by the redemptive power of love, embodied in the unusual character of Lindsey Hunter, an adoptee who seeks out her birth mother and discovers a brother (Cecil) and a soul mate (Todd). At times the prose is beautiful-spare and lyrical-and the empathy of Bausch (A Hole in the Earth) for all his characters is impressive, but the narrative arc remains hazily indistinct. Agent, Timothy Seldes at Russell & Volkening. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

For a parent, the pain of losing a child is a wound that never heals. For Sheriff David Caldwell, the loss is doubly tragic, since his older son, Todd, is the one responsible for his younger son's death. When he is sentenced to five years at a state juvenile detention center, Todd becomes as lost to his family as if he, too, had died. Now, two years after his release, Todd finally contacts his father in hope of reconciling their past. They meet in a languishing resort town where David is caught in the midst of a deadly feud between Cecil Edwards, a malevolent loner, and several town businessmen. It will take the presence of Lindsey Hunter, an enigmatic young woman searching for her own lost family, for father and son to be reunited and for the town to find an elusive peace. The ephemeral nature of family is a recurring theme in Bausch's works, one that he explores with transcendence, grace, and abundant sensitivity. --Carol Haggas Copyright 2005 Booklist

As autumn descends on an Atlantic coastal resort town that's seen better days, a quartet of characters haunted by the past collide in a moving novel. Bausch (A Hole in the Earth, 2000) uses a showdown with Cecil Edwards, the town bully, to drive the narrative, and does so with a sense of the inevitable, albeit with a twist. But his real agenda is an examination of how we compensate for what's missing in our lives: Cecil, who operates the Ferris wheel when he's not pointing guns at people, is alone, confused and scared. When his adopted half-sister Lindsey comes to town, she becomes a civilizing influence. Also new on the scene are Sheriff David Caldwell, who attempts to broker an uneasy truce between Cecil and other locals, and Caldwell's son Todd, who's spent years locked up for accidentally killing his brother--then panicking and burying the body in the back yard. The corrosive effect of grief has taken a toll on Caldwell's marriage, but the family can't be made whole until Caldwell accepts his surviving son's account of the tragedy. And Todd--who's been free and hasn't seen his family in two years--is still nursing wounds Caldwell unintentionally inflicted. Some readers may feel a bit cheated by how Cecil's feud with the local coffee klatch is resolved. But by deftly sprinkling backstory into the narrative, Bausch (Creative Writing and Literature/Northern Virginia Community College) makes his characters' histories compelling and conflicted. They're frail and stubborn, yearning to be understood, but on their terms, determined not to be defined in the present by losses in the past. Bausch gets the quirks and rhythms of a small town in decline exactly right. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A decaying Virginia resort town is the setting for this tense and absorbing tale of violence and family tragedy. When Sheriff David Caldwell arrives for an extended stay, there is no law and order in Columbia Beach. But that may change. There to rebuild the jail and set up shop, Caldwell also plans to meet his son, Todd, whose involvement in the accidental death of his little brother destroyed the family. The city has its own share of trouble in the form of Cecil Edwards, a violent, lawless man currently feuding with a local merchant-leading several locals to consider taking the law into their own hands. Also new in town is Lindsey, whose search for her mother leads her to Cecil instead. Lindsey is drawn to Todd, who recently was released from prison and arrives to meet his father and begin the difficult process of trying to come to grips with the past. Bausch (A Hole in the Earth) has a gritty and forthright style that suits the novel's violent physical confrontations, intense personality clashes, and unexpected plot twists. Recommended for all libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 5/1/05.]-Jim Coan, SUNY at Oneonta Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.