Flamingo Diner

September 15, 2003
Why would a well-respected and successful businessman with a charming and supportive wife and three children who love him suddenly take his own life? Winter Cove police chief Matt Atkins, who had spent many hours with Don Killian's family when his own disintegrated, is the man who finds him. Then, when Don's daughter, Emma, returns home to help her mother and younger brothers run the family restaurant, Matt realizes that the teen crush he had for Emma has not diminished over the years. She begs him to help her make sense of the nightmare the family is enduring, and he agrees--partly so he can see Emma, partly to repay the family for their generosity, and partly because he, too, is searching for answers about Don. During the course of this gripping, emotionally wrenching but satisfying tale, Woods deftly and realistically handles such issues as survival guilt, drug abuse as adolescent rebellion, and family dynamics when a vital member is suddenly gone.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)