REVIEW: ETTA AND OTTO AND RUSSELL AND JAMES

ETTA AND OTTO AND RUSSELL AND JAMES, BY EMMA HOOPER. SIMON & SCHUSTER, 305 PP. $26

A title like Etta and Otto and Russell and James suggests a quirky band of characters and shenanigans they manage to get themselves into. And Emma Hooper's debut novel is, to some extent. Things kick off when Otto finds a stack of recipe cards on the table with a note on top:

Otto,
I've gone. I've never seen the water, so I've gone there. Don't worry, I've left you the truck. I can walk. I...