Clay Hawkins's return to the small town of Riverwood, Minn., is a complicated homecoming in Matt Goldman's (Dead West; The Shallows) engrossing family drama Liar's Creek, the first volume in a planned series.
The 24 years Clay spent away did not mend his uneasy relationship with his father, Judd, the recently ousted police chief. Neither father nor son ever expected Clay, who made a name for himself on the soccer field in Europe, to return to Riverwood, nor do either understand why he came back three months ago. However, Judd immediately bonds with Braedon, Clay's 12-year-old son, whose mother left when he was an infant.
Meanwhile, Clay's favorite uncle, Teddy, Judd's peripatetic fraternal twin, has recently disappeared. After Clay's mother died when he was 13, Judd became distant, so Clay turned to Teddy for advice and someone to talk to. In contrast to the strict Judd, Teddy was "the coolest," played in a punk band, and taught Clay to fly fish, but was often unreliable. Growing up with these different but flawed ways of parenting made Clay determined to do better for Braedon. Goldman's deft illustration of the complex dynamics among the Hawkins men, including Braedon, underpins the narrative as the family tries to figure out what happened to Teddy.
Riverwood is the kind of small town that offers comfort yet hides secrets--some of which might be linked to why Teddy went missing--and Goldman shows how small violations and pranks can grow into serious crimes. Liar's Creek flows forcefully as an emotional tale about fathers and sons. --Oline H. Cogdill, freelance reviewer