5-4-10 An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England by Brock Clarke - Fiction

2 - I thought from the jacket description that this would be an amusing mystery-type book. Nope. It was a real downer of a book that focuses on the cause and effect of truth and lies in our relationships. So it was not the kind of book I was looking to read which may have colored this review slightly. Add to that the fact that I found the main character, Sam, to be a bit .... desperate and pathetic are the best words I can come up with, and this became a slog through the marsh for me. Sam burned down the Emily Dickinson house with two people inside by accident as a teen but was tried and convicted as an arsonist and a murderer and served 10 years in prison. When released, he goes back to his parents' house who then ask him to please go to college because it's too hard for them to have him live there. So he goes to college, gets a degree, gets a wife, has two kids, and is living the average everyday life. Except he never told his wife about the fire but did tell her that his parents were dead. His world starts to crumble when the son of the people who died in the fire hunts him down. Basically, you can't get along in the world when your entire life is built from lies. I don't think I'll pick up anything else by Brock Clarke no matter how quirky it sounds.