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Flook's first novel, Family Night (Pantheon, 1993), received a PEN/Hemingway Foundation Special Citation. Her new work is the story of Willis Pratt, a young man whose life is foundering. Having been dishonorably discharged from the navy, Willis is now called home to care for his dying stepmother, Rennie, who raised him after the strange deaths of his mother and father. Their relationship is complex, and it's obvious to Rennie that Willis is the one in need of help. While Rennie grows increasingly weaker, Willis becomes stuck in a downward spiral of drugs and crime. Thrown into this mix is Holly, their newly divorced neighbor, who is on parole for torching her ex-husband's bed. The tension between these characters as they struggle to get their lives in order is intriguing, although the sudden resolution of Willis's problems after Rennie's death seems unlikely. Best suited for academic or very large public library fiction collections.