A Long Drive Home by Will Allison

A Long Drive Home is a sad and tragic story.  Glen is driving his six year old home from school which he does each day when a driver cuts him off and causes him to slam on his brakes.  Glen is upset but only gives in to road rage when he again encounters the reckless driver and decides to scare him cutting the wheel so it appears he is turning in front of the speeder.  However, the driver veers and crashes into a tree and is killed instantly.  The other driver was an intoxicated teenager.  Glen realizing no one witnessed his actions (except maybe his daughter) lies to police about the accident.  A sly detective Rizzo is able to put bits together and pursues Glen and  the carefully crafted happy suburban life is soon torn asunder.  The tale is told from Glen’s persepective and in a letter he writes to his daughter explaining his actions.  Allison tells a compelling story with great brevity.

Maggie

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Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray

This is an enjoyable read until the last chapter where she wraps everything like a happy package much like the artfully wrapped packages the cakes are delivered in.  The heroine Ruth likes to bake; she has no other outlets when things go wrong or go right she bakes.   She is very good at it and her cakes are legendary ---however, her family is getting really tired of them.  Her happy life all of sudden starts going wrong, her husband loses his job, her teenage daughter starts rebelling, her long divorced mother lives with her, and out of the blue her father who has been missing in action for most of her life has health issues and needs to be looked after-----this does not set well with her mother.  In the meantime, to support her family she starts baking cakes for sale.  Of course, her cake business is a success and as quick as you can say ‘ lemon poppy seed cake’ everyone is living happily ever after.

~Maggie

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