The Wait    by Frank Turner Hollon Order:  USA  Can MacAdam/Cage, 2008 (2008) Hardcover     Reviewed by Tim Davis When The Wait begins, readers are invited to follow the progress of narrator Early Winwood's life. As a boy, Early possesses a singular sensitivity and imagination, but - as if in reaction to those qualities - young Early is determined 'to be average' and 'invisible'. As an adolescent, in spite of his earlier determination, Early must deal with misadventures, fantasies, bewilderment, and - inevitably and significantly - infatuation with Kate Shepherd. After an ill-fated marriage to Kate disintegrates, Early feels as though things in his life have fallen apart. Stoically, though, he moves on toward a successful career and - a decade later - toward a second marriage. Early's future wife Samantha, however, remains haunted by her abusive ex-husband Allen Kilborn. This is the point at which Early's life becomes deeply complicated. Kilborn is murdered, and police begin to question Early about his knowledge of the killing. Early meditates on the problems and the pressures presented to him by the police inquiries: 'I began to wonder about who I was {...} and whether anything would ever make sense again.' Years later, when someone else is murdered, and when police once again focus upon an uncomfortable Early, he is again forced to meditate upon the growing inventory of questions and confusions in his life - the disillusionments, the mistakes, and the lost possibilities. As for answers and solutions, though, Early - as the novel's Everyman with whom readers are invited to identify - will simply have to wait until he is in his sixties for what will become a singular opportunity to sort out decisions made in a cyclical life complicated by sensitivity, passion, and imagination. Frank Turner Hollon, now with eight novels to his credit, remains a personal favorite (which, by the way, has nothing to do with the fact that he is nearly a neighbor of mine here in Baldwin County, Alabama); The Wait - a most highly recommended novel of uncommon power, grace, and warmth - once again demonstrates Hollon's special ability to represent life as a poignant comedy of errors which (if lived correctly) can (and should) culminate in forgiveness and redemption. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Contemporary books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews