Winterkill
- ISBN-10
- 0759676615
- ISBN-13
- 9780759676619
- Series
- Winterkill
- Category
- Fiction
- Pages
- 296
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2002-02-11
- Author
- Karen Wunderman
Description
Running from the past, hiding a secret that's what Ben Dalton has been doing for the last ten years. But he's about to crash headlong into an immutable fact: No matter how hard he runs, his past is going to catch up with him. And when his secret gets out, it's going to destroy him. Ben's secret may seem relatively harmless; he was a Communist in New York during the 1940s. But it's 1957, the Cold War is on, and this is small-town America. To make matters worse, Ben is no longer a Communist and can't defend what he once believed. Friends desert him, and he finds himself alone, scared, and without purpose in life. By moving to the small town of Sitwell, New Hampshire, he hopes to make a new start. But things are never that simple, and Ben encounters another of those immutable truths: He can't walk away from his past without leaving an essential part of himself with it. As word slowly leaks out about his past, he becomes trapped in a web of lethargy and denial. But denial, it turns out, is useless. Once the secret is out, Ben and his family become the targets of an escalating series of attacks that snowball over the years into blackmail, attempted rape, arson, and, ultimately, death. Between assaults on himself and his family, Ben tries to get on with his life, but he's defeated at every turn and sinks into a profound, possibly deadly, inertia. His wife Kate, whose instinct is always to try to fix things that have gone wrong, spends her life agonizing over Ben and trying to protect him. And while no one is paying attention, their daughter Nicky crosses the threshold into adolescence. All attempts to rein her in are too little and too late, and her dawning adolescent rebellion explodes into full-blown insurrection. In the end, two people are dead, three teenagers are missing, and the fine stitching that holds the family and the town together begins to unravel.
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
Winterkill
By C. J. BoxJoe Pickett’s pursuit of a killer through the rugged mountains of Wyoming takes a horrifying turn when his beloved foster daughter is kidnapped in this thriller in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.
-
Winterkill
By Marsha Forchuk SkrypuchUkrainian Canadian author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch tells a gripping story of how the Soviet Union starved the Ukrainian people in the 1930s -- and of their determination to overcome.
-
Winterkill
By C. J. BoxJoe Pickett's pursuit of a killer through the rugged mountains of Wyoming takes a horrifying turn when his beloved foster daughter is kidnapped in this thriller in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.
-
Winterkill
By Ragnar Jónasson... Truly a master of his genre' The Times 'The engaging Ari Thor returns in this darkly claustrophobic tale. Perfect mid-winter reading' Ann Cleeves 'A stunningly atmospheric story.
-
Making Bombs for Hitler
By Marsha Forchuk SkrypuchAt the end of the street was a low stone structure built into the side of a hill. It looked as if it might have been a large horse stable at one time, or maybe an old factory. Three of the four walls were built into the rise of the hill ...
-
Winterkill: A Novel
By Kate A. BoormanA young woman escapes her settlement community to seek her destiny on an unforgiving and mysterious frontier in this suspenseful YA series debut.
-
Winterkill: A Novel
By Craig LesleyAn American Indian rodeo rider is reunited with his teenage son and struggles to earn his love and trust
-
Winterkill
By Gary PaulsenAn unhappy thirteen-year-old is befriended and protected by Duda, the tough cop of a small Minnesota town.
-
Darkthaw: A Winterkill Novel
By Kate A. BoormanFor as long as Emmeline can remember, she’s longed to leave the isolated world of the settlement and explore the wilderness that calls to her in her dreams.
-
Winterkill
By Nicole DavidsonOn a ski trip to Killington, Vermont, Karen witnesses her boyfriend's murder and the killer--who is a member of Karen's party--is now after her.