May 16, 2016
A road trip from Chicago to Virginia is transformed into a complex mental journey in Pittard’s (Reunion) third novel. Mark and Maggie, a 30-something couple, are coping with the aftermath of Maggie’s mugging at gunpoint. To make matters worse, an attacker with a similar MO subsequently murdered a neighbor. Mark decides to push up the date of their annual visit to his parents’ cottage in Virginia to give Maggie—who has taken to wearing a bathrobe, zoning out and scouring the Internet for negative stories, and hiding a knife under the mattress—a much-needed break. Soon into their journey, a destructive storm forces them to find shelter in an out-of-the-way hotel. While the storm rages outside, the characters contemplate their own inner storms. Mark, a college professor, frustrated and baffled by his wife’s increasing dysfunction, considers an affair with a former research assistant, while feeling fiercely protective of his wife. Maggie, a veterinarian, stymied by her fears, longs to get back to her normal self. Chilling events ratchet up the suspense as well as magnify the couple’s strengths and weaknesses in Pittard’s memorable examination of the precarious terrain of marriage.
February 15, 2016
Pittard hit pay dirt in 2014 with Reunion, a LibraryReads selection, Chicago Tribune Editor's Choice, BuzzFeed Top 5 Great Book, People Best New Book, and more. Here, Mark and wife Maggie, who was recently mugged at gunpoint, start a trip east to visit family too late and are barely speaking. But anxious Maggie rises to the occasion when trouble comes their way.
Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
March 1, 2016
The story of a fraught road trip undertaken by a couple whose marriage is under stress, Pittard's glistening new novel (after Reunion) only seems to be in miniature. In fact, it opens up to show not just the depth and potential shattering points of all close relationships but also how danger--and, yes, evil--lurk at the outskirts of our lives, threatening to upend us unexpectedly. College professor Mark and his wife, Maggie, a veterinarian, are traveling from Chicago to his family's East Coast home because Mark senses they need a break; after a mugging, Maggie has become brooding and suspicious, not the woman Mark married. They leave late, with Maggie intent on giving their dog, Gerome, a good walk beforehand, and they're mostly bickering or silent as evening and tornado-grade storms approach. As Mark wrestles with thoughts of a former student and Maggie zigzags between tenderness and paranoia, a blackout descends, and they go off the beaten path to seek a place to stay. At a dark hotel, they find a bed and some real closeness, but tragedy erupts in a moment, leaving their future tentative if tentatively hopeful. VERDICT Pitch-perfect in language and ominous in mood, Pittard's narrative telescopes enormous emotion and insight into a brief, compelling read. [See Prepub Alert, 1/11/16.]--Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal
Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.