So Near

Gyllenhaal (aunt of Maggie and Jake) ) juxtaposes the impact of a family disaster on a marriage against the economic woes of a small upstate New York town in her intriguing second novel. Cal and Jenny Horigan's lives are upended when Cal is in a car accident and their two-year old daughter, Betsy, whose car seat comes loose, is killed. Cal is eager to pursue a "wrongful death" lawsuit against the company that manufactured the car seat, spurred on by his eldest brother, Edmund but , Jenny%E2%80%93for her own complicated reasons%E2%80%93is strongly against the idea. The couple's radically different reactions to Betsy's death and the increasing wedge between them is ably explored using alternate viewpoints. While the townspeople rally around them, the knowledge that the Horigan name goes back in the town for generations, and the fact that Cal's father's business, and Cal and his older brother Kurt's business are both seeing hard times is a quiet undercurrent to the story. In the middle of the crisis, a mysterious stranger arrives in town. Daniel Brandt, a charismatic landscape architect (and sociopath), enters the Horigans' lives, offering balm to their misery and guilt, while taking advantage of their vulnerability. Added to the mix are Jenny's difficult relationship with her father, a strict and unemotional workaholic minister, and her free-spirited, younger sister, Judy, who once made a pass at Cal. Gyllenhaal (Local Knowledge) has a real page-turner, although her simplistic characters undermine the potential for greater depth and insight into relationships and the complexity that fuels them. (Sept.)