Long Drive Home by Will Allison ~ review

It is amazing how one little act of recklessness can so irrevocably change ones life but that's just what happens to Glen Bauer. On his way home from picking up his six year old daughter Sara from school Glen does a pretty juvenile thing when he sees a policeman run a red light, he gives the cop the finger, unfortunately for Glen a person in the oncoming lane driving a tricked out SUV thinks that the gesture was aimed at him. When he stops the SUV and approaches Glen's car he demands an apology, and when it doesn't come fast enough, he unzips his jacket and flashes a gun. Glen apologizes but the rest of the drive home he thinks of all the ways he should have handled the incident. As he reaches his subdivision and starts to turn in he is cut off by an erratic driver in a Jaguar, amazed at how close the accident was you can just imagine the adrenaline pumping, when less than a minute later the driver is coming at him again, only this time Glen decides to teach the driver a lesson, planning on swerving into the cars path and then jerking back just to scare the driver, but instead the driver loses control, slams into and slams into a tree.The driver of the Jaguar is sixteen year old Juwan Richards, and he is pronounced dead at the scene.

When the police arrive Glen decides to lie about the accident, but the facts just don't add up, and the detective assigned to the case keeps popping up asking questions. When Juwan's uncle, who is a lawyer convinces his mother to explore a wrongful death suit  Glen's wife goes into protector mode and decides the only way to protect the families assets is to separate and file for a divorce, and then when everything is over get back together. How will Glen's marriage survive this upheaval, and will the truth ever come to light about the accident?

 Road rage is something that has become very  common in our society,so this story is easy to relate to. The author weaves the story in such a way that you could actually imagine the events unfolding. Imagining how Glen must have felt when the guy in the SUV confronts him was easy to do, and when he is cut off by Juwan, I could just feel  the adrenaline must have been pumping as he decides to teach him a lesson, but when it goes horribly wrong, wishing he could take that moment in time back. Glen seemed like a very down to earth middle class guy who let his emotions take control of a situation, and when he decides to lie, or not lie actually just omit facts, it still didn't help the guilt that he felt inside. I thought that it was interesting that he was still carrying a picture of Juwan in his wallet two years later to remind him to be careful.
This book is told thru the eyes of Glen, and through out the book his emotions are exposed as he writes a letter to Sara that he intends to give her when she turns eighteen.
There is never a down time to this story, it grabbed my attention from the first pages and held it until the end.Often while reading this story I found myself wondering what I might have done had I been in Glen's shoes.

A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.