This is an engaging novel that takes the reader slowly through the life of Michael Wolf after his father has been murdered, with chapters that also take us to the past, to give the context. The present and past information is deliberately revealed to add tension to the tale. At the end the novel became very cinematic and over-dramatic, with drama that you could see coming a mile off. Michael hunts for his father's killer, deals with his slightly wayward brother and makes up with his teenage first love and has frustrations and good times with all of these activities.
Small town Stillriver is beautifully portrayed and the geography is clearly drawn. ( )

This is the first book I've read by Andrew Rosenheim, and it was a reasonably good murder mystery. The novel has an underlying theme of small town life and the conflicting emotions experienced by the main character when he returns to his small home town in Michigan. I found it hard to believe that he finally 'gets the girl' at the end, (his highschool sweetheart) after so much turmoil and hardship over the preceding years. ( )

A tale of small-town America, dysfunctional families, growing-up, loves gained and lost, homecoming and murder.
The central characters of Michael, who returns home from England when his father is murdered, and Cassie, his lost teenage sweetheart, are engaging and well developed, with a supporting cast of slightly stereotypical others - but what small-town American novel doesn't have those?
A page-turner and easy read, but the revelations that gradually reveal the turmoil behind the murder are dealt out in rather a lot of pages. As a thriller, it's a bit saggy; as a family saga it's a good read. ( )