163 pages
English language
Published Dec. 14, 2012 by Vintage International/Vintage Books.
"Tony Webster, a middle-aged man, ... contends with a past he never thought much about--until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present"--Flap p. 1 of cover.
Short, well written, with a memorable plot twist.
Personally I found my feelings towards this book changing as I read. Tony comes across as a fairly boring character to begin with and morphs into a pretty pathetic person who seeks some kind of forgiveness or redemption for what he feels he's done in the past. By no means is he sympathetic. The ending is meant to be a huge payoff, but I didn't buy into his assumed guilt for what happened. He was beating himself up unnecessarily. Tony's 'voice' was also annoyingly self-indulgent at times. It's strange. While I enjoyed the 'experience' of reading this book - it was well written - looking back on it I just feel equal parts of annoyance and disappointment about the story. Maybe this is the effect Barnes wanted...
