Race Across the Sky

In Sherman's debut novel, ultra-marathoner and extreme endurance athlete Caleb Oberest has been estranged from his family for a decade. He has immersed himself in a cultish running club overseen by a charismatic and manipulative "energy-healing" guru who not only trains his runners, but also dictates every aspect of their lives in their Colorado collective. For years, Caleb's brother, Shane, has been desperate to reconnect with him, and when the two come crashing back together, it is amid extraordinary circumstances. When a new member arrives to the running club with a sickly infant, Caleb's isolation and complete focus on extreme distance competition breaks down as he quickly becomes attached, and ultimately devoted, to doing whatever he can to save the child's life. He reaches out to his brother, who has become a biotechnology salesman, for help. Both are driven to take extreme risks and make superhuman sacrifices in their efforts to cure the ailing child. While Sherman neatly weaves two narrative lines and effectively builds tension, the motivations driving the characters seem thin and too reliant on the intensity of ultra-marathon mindset to propel them to through such risk and hardship. The novel will appeal most to readers willing to overlook plausibility for the excitement of extreme circumstances. (Aug.)