On the surface, this novel is about how one catastrophic event can be a defining moment, a pivot point, for the lives of all the people involved. All are changed and ultimately they must all face their demons alone. It is more "realistic" and stylistically very different from "Nursery Rhymes for Dead Children" and in many ways darker.

Lee Thompson is a very good writer. Most novels feature formulaic and structured plot and draw from an accepted palette of symbolism or metaphor to create a desired artistic effect. Sort of like a Currier and Ives Christmas scene. Just as we are supposed to, we smile with remembrance and recognize ourselves (idealized, of course) in the work.

Thompson doesn't let you off that easily. He rips his chest open and lays his suffering on that page and we cringe as we recall our own suffering and shudder as we recognize our own weaknesses in his characters. We can feel him do this and it changes us.

The reader can sense the truth and real suffering behind these characters and is forced to look inside themselves and the reader who approaches these novels with an open mind and heart will be moved by them. Sometimes there aren't solutions and sometimes the pain just doesn't go away. ( )

So you're travelling through life and you have it all; nice home, loving wife, secure job and a kid that looks up to you...and then in a moment it all disappears and is no more. Frank Gunn good cop encounters one day a situation that changes his life for ever, in an instant his wife Tanya has removed his gun and shot at Albert Chambers who, in a crazed attempt, is holding his kid and pointing a gun at his ex Angela.....bang!! accidentally the child Jeremy is shot and goes into a coma from which he will never recover. From this instant life as Frank knows it spirals out of control as everything he has ever held dear disappears...all in a puff of smoke. Well dear reader that could be you or me, through the eyes of Frank we witness a life and security that is no more...This is a hard, gritty read by the superb Mr Thompson, a book that will teach you not to envy or covet material or worldly possessions but to be thankful for those precious moments you have with with those you love, cherish and hold dear.....but always be wary of the Lizard King! ( )