Publisher's Weekly Review

Terry Anderson, whom readers met in Calloway's first novel, Growing Up on the Edge of the World, returns six years older (he's 18) and not a whole lot wiser. His conservative church has driven him away from faith, and although Grace, Mont., isn't exactly a hotbed of sin, Terry has a gift for finding trouble. The party-loving agnostic smokes, drinks and listens to forbidden Rolling Stones records disguised in Bill Gaither album jackets. Things aren't so good at home-Terry's mother has Huntington's disease and spends her days in bed, and his father struggles to raise Terry's little nephew while holding his family together. Life gets stranger and stranger: Terry discovers a dead body in an abandoned Dodge Charger; household items begin to disappear; a mysterious envelope arrives. A fraudulent healer, a brotherhood ring and an old financial scam will keep the characters busy until the final pages. Callaway spins his tale in a dry, humorous voice, strongly reminiscent of Philip Gulley's Harmony series. The plot isn't particularly stellar, but what will delight readers are Callaway's dead-on depictions of smalltown, conservative Christian life. At some point, Callaway will discover he doesn't need to rely on improbably dramatic plots to carry future novels, and he will become a writer to reckon with. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved