Living on the exclusive resort island of Eden off the coast of Florida after being forced into retirement after a corporate takeover, Frank Pritchard spends his days quietly, reminiscing about his late wife and dreaming up ways to get back at the corporate raiders, but his life takes a bizarre turn thanks to the colorful fellow residents of his gated community. 10,000 first printing. Frank Pritchard is a deposed CEO and recent widower. He spends his day in the ironically named--for him--Eden island resort off the Florida coast, watching the financial news channel report on his stock holdings. He ignores the advances of an avaricious neighbor, Randi, while secretly desiring the younger and more idealistic Ariel, his late wife's physiotherapist. Frank's malaise subsides marginally when his paraplegic next-door neighbor piques his interest. Cal Barlow has a gun, a past, a wheelchair, and an attitude, and he inspires Frank to begin a vandalism campaign against the corporate raiders who pushed him out of his CEO chair. Frank's acts, however, inadvertently close the gap between Cal's dangerous past and his comfortable present. Mewshaw is a writer of uncommon subtlety. Each of his four key characters undergoes a gradual metamorphosis entirely consistent with his or her circumstances. None of us can hide from our past, but as the ex-CEO, the career criminal, the earth mother, and the fortune-hunting trophy wife all illustrate, neither must we be defined by it. Thought-provoking fiction. Wes Lukowsky Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Michael Mewshaw is the author of nine critically acclaimed novels and half a dozen successful books of nonfiction. Mewshaw lives in Key West and Europe.