Long Drive Home: A Novel


Long Drive Home is a stunning cautionary tale of unintended consequences that confirms Will Allison's growing reputation as a rising literary talent. In his second novel, Allison probes one family's inner dynamics after a series of hasty, ultimately disastrous decisions leads inexorably to its unraveling. A seemingly mundane drive home from school, with six-year-old Sara chattering away in the back seat, turns into a nightmare when Glen Bauer lets his anger at a reckless teenage driver turn vengeful, causing an accident resulting in the year-old's death across the street from the Bauer home.

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A riveting second novel by Will Allison, author of the acclaimed What You Have Left. A happily married suburban father makes a mistake that results in a. In this New York Times bestselling psychological thriller, “a gripping morality tale that raises questions about race, conscience, and the responsibilities of.

Allison follows Glen's thought processes as he neglects to tell the police or his wife all the details leading up to the accident, including his initial sighting of the young driver speeding through his neighborhood and his wish to scare him, then keeps Sara from talking to the police, fearing that she knows more than she's letting on and is instinctively trying to protect her father. Allison portrays Glen's string of bad choices as an unrelenting whirlpool, sucking him down until he has nowhere to escape, as the reader wishes in vain that he would stop and think rationally before he compounds his mistakes.

Allison follows What You Have Left with a tight drama, part psychological thriller, part tragedy. Glen is an accountant living in New Jersey with his successful wife, Liz, and their six-year-old daughter, Sara. On an ordinary drive home from school, a series of mundane decisions grow increasingly dire and culminate in a car accident that sets road-raging Glen onto a path of deception and self-destruction. The novel is told from Glen's perspective, in part through a confessional letter written to Sara, an obvious but nonetheless effective tension builder.

Long Drive Home Book Summary and Study Guide

It's a slow burn as guilt chips away at Glen's sanity and his marriage crumbles, his impotent angst finds an unlikely outlet, and he comes under ever more scrutiny by a strangely motivated detective. Allison's triumph is the skillful rendering of Glen's transformation as a basically good guy whose fatal flaw leads him to a cataclysmically stupid decision. And while other characters fare less well-the cop on Glen's tail is straight out of an airport thriller, and Liz isn't given the chance to break through her mercenary and fundamentally unpleasant mold-Allison's effortless prose and playful genre mixing showcase a burgeoning talent.

Thank you for using the catalog. What if someone else were to blame for the turn his life has taken?

Long Drive Home

It's a question Glen can't let go of. And as he struggles to understand the extent of his own guilt, he finds himself on yet another collision course, different in kind but with the potential to be equally devastating.

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Chapter Analysis of Long Drive Home

But while wondering whether Glen will get arrested is what keeps you turning pages, Allison's eye for the details of marriage and fatherhood, and his deconstruction of what can happen when a good guy makes one false move, are what will break your heart. The Oprah Magazine , June "One lie leads to another lie that leads to a taut thriller that hits you right at home.

Allison still manages to take in a panorama of human behavior. Despite her age she knows that her dad had two close calls with the young man who died.

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She doesn't know why he only mentioned that they saw Juwan once, to her mom. Click here to see the rest of this review.

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Glen was fed up with reckless drivers and when the young man zoomed past him he barely had time to stop. Juwan was on the telephone and didn't even look up.

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The second time they crossed paths Glen was ready to blow his top. He followed him and Juwan hit a tree landing on Glen's neighbors lawn.

Glen's wife Liz is very practical. Something doesn't feel right about his story, but she can't put her finger on it. Glen is questioned at the accident scene and at the house.

Long Drive Home by Will Allison

He refuses to let the police question Sara who was riding in the backseat of the car. He is scared that if he tells the truth he will be sued and do prison time.

Long Drive Home

I really did not care much for the characters in this book. You ponder these questions as you read Will Allison's tale and the fact that you are pondering this, and This well thought out tale by Will Allison was spellbinding, nearly impossible to put down. What seemed to be any ol' day became a nightmare If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support? Perhaps I can accept that a hyper-alert 6-year-old sitting in the back seat of a car is able to see everything that happens through the front windshield.

Glen sees a lone black woman at the vigil and is right in assuming that Tawana is Juwan's mother. Guilt kicks in, the kid had a family who loved him. A high school honor student who volunteered in his community.