'“Amid the sharp humor and trenchant social commentary in this author’s first novel, a bleakness and despair are clearly manifest. Bill Brock’s life is unraveling, and he along with it. At age 50, he is a prisoner of an unsatisfying job, a listless marriage and a large house in Connecticut—and he drinks too much. . . . The novel offers interesting insights and some clever, if macabre, humor.” —Publishers Weekly'