MADreads

I used to love to wander through a bookstore and feed my reading need (this on top of checking many stacks of books out of the library). But at some point I stopped buying all those print copies, partially for space reasons, partially because of the changing bookstore landscape and partially because I was reading more and more digitally. So what's my version of strolling through the bookstore aisles? Late in the evening I look for ebook deals online to see if there's anything that catches my fancy (this on top of the library books I check out electronically and read on Libby!).

Only Child opens with a tense and heartbreaking scene as Zach Taylor and the rest of his first grade class huddle in a closet waiting for the gunfire of an active shooter in their school to stop. Zach is six and though his class has practiced hiding like this, he and his classmates don't really know what's happening. They just know that they're scared and confused. Once Zach leaves that closet, he'll find the world as he knew it has irrevocably changed - because while Zach has survived, his older brother Andy has not.

Desmond Aloysius Limerick (Dez) is a retired gatekeeper. What's a gatekeeper you may ask? Well in Dez's case, a kind of cross between Jack Reacher, MacGyver, and John McClane. His former profession had him working ops around the world and as a gatekeeper he was responsible not only for getting his teams into whatever location they needed to enter, but making sure they all got out too. He was an expert on entrances and exits of all kinds. His current life has him living in southern California and sitting in on an occasional musical gig.

In this heartwarming, character-driven novel, the author explores the ways in which people navigate and (hopefully) survive deep grief.