Deadbook

Blair and John Waggoner's teenage daughter Amanda seems to be losing her mind after the suspicious death of her boyfriend, Rye, yet the family hasn't a clue how to handle it. The quality of Blair's privileged life in the narrow Monticello Valley in the mountains east of Napa – a life of playing tennis, chauffeuring twelve-year-old Nikki and doing quasi-battle with her Facebook addiction – has deteriorated rapidly since Rye's truck crashed on a steep, winding road a year ago.The truth is, Blair had "issues" with Rye. He was of Navajo-Mexican parentage, and as in other areas of her life, Blair wrestles political correctness against her own embarrassing prejudices. As Amanda's emotional problems continue to escalate alarmingly, the family still quibbles and hesitates to act. One night, a glowing purple icon appears on Amanda's Facebook page. It is a portal into Deadbook – and there are messages. Against a backdrop of dusky blue ridges, wild boars and treacherous canyons juxtaposed with the perfect green world of the country club, the truth of Rye's death comes out and family and community must rethink their previous perceptions.
Told in a wry, sardonic style that plays the follies and foibles of human nature against the gathering eeriness of "what lies beyond", Deadbook is a page-turning read that is hard to put down. What would YOU give to communicate with your loved one on the other side?