Review by Booklist Review
Up until Reuben, a writer based in Massachusetts, shows up at her farm stand in small-town Tennessee, Madeline Hill has been content managing the family farm with her mother. But Reuben throws her a curveball when he tells her that he is her half-brother. They share the father who left her and her mother (and Reuben) many years ago. What's more, through the services of a private detective, Reuben knows of at least three more half-siblings whom their father abandoned and who live around the country. He is intent on rounding them all up before driving to California to meet their dad. As improbable as this quest might first appear, Madeline is sold. Like her brother, she too wants closure and piles into his PT Cruiser, determined to meet her new-found family. Even if this road trip occasionally stalls, Wilson (Now Is Not the Time to Panic, 2022) peppers the heartwarming story with his signature whimsy and plenty of soul. Equally important, during the journey, this modern family relearns what love and care might look like.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Fans will pounce on the latest from this beloved author of offbeat family fiction.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A set of half-siblings meet each other for the first time in this pleasant if tepid road novel from Wilson (Now Is Not the Time to Panic). It's 2007 when Boston mystery author Rube Hill learns he has three younger half-siblings. He rents a car and drives south to look up his half-sister, Madeline "Mad" Hill, an organic farmer in Tennessee. As Rube explains to Mad, their father abandoned each of their families in turn before starting a new life. Rube convinces Mad to join him on a road trip to visit their other two half-siblings--Pepper "Pep" Hill, a college basketball sensation in Oklahoma, and Theron, who's still a young child, in Utah--before continuing to California in search of their father. As Rube drives across the country assembling the group, they compare memories of their father and the lingering hurt over his sudden disappearances. Though the tone verges on saccharine, Wilson's character work is top-notch, and he makes clear how the foursome struggle to connect in part because their father was a different man while raising each of them. This has less bite than Wilson's best work, but there's still plenty of heart. Agent: Julie Barer, Book Group. (May)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Four previously unknown half siblings set out on a road trip in search of their long-absent father. Madeline Hill finds her life exhausting, but mostly plentiful, having built her family's little organic farm in Tennessee into a destination for foodies and families alike. But the chip on her shoulder comes rushing back when her half brother Reuben shows up in a PT Cruiser with a trunkful of family secrets about her deadbeat dad, Chuck Hill. Not the least of these is the fact that their father created and abandoned families four times in total, leaving behind kids who each followed in their father's largely invented footsteps. Despite her reservations, Mad joins her brother--a sensitive, middle-aged crime writer who followed the path set by his dad, known as Charles Hill--on his ill-advised quest. In Oklahoma, they pick up their father's other spitfire daughter, Pep, a championship basketball player raised by coach Chip Hill to never give up. Meanwhile, in Salt Lake City, they pick up Theron, called Tom, the 11-year-old son of a famous TV broadcaster mother, fathered by cameraman Carl Hill. Wilson's quartet makes for an amiable if fairly milquetoast bunch, but their awkward bonding leans toward cringe rather than comfort. They finally do find their absentee father out West, but it's more realization than revelation, mostly about the frailty of man and what it means to be a family. Wilson is positively masterful at quirky family dramas and many of the ingredients that have made his stories so popular are present here: an eclectic cast, a dash of absurdity, and complicated but very real family dynamics. Somewhere in his latest, though, some spice got missed and readers end up on a road to nowhere. "We've had our big family fight and now we've made up," Pep says on the road. "That's how it works, I think." Both family reunion and ghost story, even though neither quite comes to life. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
