Silver Alert

Smith (Blue Marlin) offers a nimble if slow-moving twist on the odd couple trope. Herbert “Herb” Atlas, 83, cares for his third wife, Susan, 70, who gave him a “whole new life” when they married 12 years earlier but is now stricken with dementia. Their children insist on round-the-clock care for Susan at their house in Key West, but Susan resists attention from anyone but her nail technician, Renee Martin. Soon, Renee is a fixture in the Atlas household, and it turns out her real name is Deidre “Dee Dee” June Mullins, and she’s a North Carolina transplant who survived sex trafficking. When Herb receives a diagnosis of stage IV prostate cancer, Herb’s kids stage an intervention, hoping to put Herb and Susan into a nursing home. Meanwhile, Dee Dee is unexpectedly pregnant from a man who has no plans to have a family, and with Herb determined not to be locked down, the two set off for an adventure in his yellow Porsche. Though the road trip comes a bit late, there’s plenty of charm to the two main characters, one trying to outrun her past and the other trying to outrun his future. For patient readers, this is a treat. Agent: Liz Darhansoff, Darhansoff & Verrill Literary Agents. (Apr.)