Ripples and Regrets

337 by M. Jonathan Lee (Hideaway Fall) – When Sam Darte’s mother left a note with her wedding ring on the kitchen table, he knew his life would never be the same. That teenage version of himself could not envision the devastation that would echo through his life for years. His family would tear itself apart, his marriage would die in those same ripples. When his grandmother is dying, will Sam have to face the demons that haunt him?

I wasn’t sure what I was getting into as the novel began. It looks at the people in the story as from a great height, then drops us down into the middle of a dysfunctional family at their annual torment of a family picnic. Grandad and his son are unpleasant in their best moments, Gramma and Sandra are browbeaten wives who meet their husbands’ expectations on rare occasions. Sam and Tom only know this way of being a family, but they know it’s a perilous place to live. When Sandra leaves, everything is tossed on its head. Lee takes us step by step through what happens next to a stunning ending.

The story is told from Sam’s point of view, so we discover things as he does or as he reveals them. His volatile relationship with his father, the fractured relationships with his brother and his grandmother. He is desperate to know the answer of what happened to his mother, but does not want to be drawn back into relationships that hold no joy, no closure. The request to be with his grandmother as she lives out her final days, a woman he has not spoken to in years, is an enormous burden. But the path out of darkness of of his life since his mother disappeared may lead through the room of the dying woman.

Lee does a brilliant job carrying you through the steps of Sam’s struggle. Sam is tired, mentally and spiritually exhausted by the ripples from that day. And you will feel every ounce of that exhaustion. As someone who has sat in the rooms of terminally ill family members, I can tell you those scenes are haunting and human. The struggle for both he and his grandmother to move forward after a huge blowout years before, for the brothers to find a sense of family again, will make you ache along with the character. Step by step, revelation by revelation, Lee takes us through the maze until we reach the end.

And what a stunning end it is. Do yourself a favor, don’t cheat. Don’t read the ending first. You will miss out on the delicious tension Lee creates here. Sam doesn’t know, wants to know, doesn’t want to know, wants it all to go away. The journey itself is a wonderful and torturous story, with a beautiful payoff at the end.

What a great way to start off the new year of reading

Rating – **** Recommended

I base this review on an Advance Reader Copy of the novel and it is consistent with our stated Review Policy.