Another good Justin Cronin book. About relationships - this time, father and daughter. His books are such a pleasure to read because he has this way with words that is mesmerizing. Here's an example worth reading:
"I had a dog once - what a dog he was! A retriever with something else mixed in, a breed that liked to work and herd: Australian shepherd, maybe, or collie. I named him Mauritz, though Hal called him Ritzy and it stuck. Ritzy the dog. A steadfast member of the team, as relentless as a metronome: Meredith joked that he would have taken a job bagging groceries at the corner market if only he'd had hands. I loved him, as one can only love such a dog; but I also knew what he was. Behind his eyes, twin chestnuts of the most tender soulfulness, lay encased in its suitcase of bone, a brain that knew nothing at all of time or sorrow or even the true joy that sorrow makes possible - only its own desire to please, an aching, needful love that could achieve its fullest contentment with the most meager offering: a stale biscuit, a walk around the block to do his business, a pat on his golden head. His own existence, its nature and finitude, was a mystery to him; he might have thought he was a person, or else I was a dog. The day I took him to the vet to have him put down - he was thirteen, his hips so bad he could barely walk to his bowl - I could think of only this to say: "You have been a good dog, and a great comfort to me, and I thank you." It was all he wanted to hear. I'd never wished so badly to be the dog he thought I was.