Ruth has everything women could want. She is a big shot at a great company, she has a son Robbie who she adores, and Neil her best friend with benefits.
Ruth's life is very busy, and Robbie is feeling left out. He comes home one day and tells his mother he has enlisted in the Army. Ruth is not at all happy about this. A few years later, Robbie is getting out of the service, and Ruth can't wait to see him. But Robbie doesn't come straight home; instead he goes to see his Uncle Kevin and grandma. Their home is where Robbie has always felt safe. When Robbie finally makes it home, Ruth is thrilled, but where did her little boy go? Robbie is not comfortable in Ruth's world, and he has a lot of secrets he can't seem to let go of.
One day, the worst thing in Ruth's life happens. Robbie takes his own life. Ruth is overcome with grief. She takes off to places unknown with Robbie's ashes. On the road, she meets up with Casey, who was also in the service and had lost his leg. Casey has a lot of secrets himself. He gave up his daughter when she was five, but he wants to see her again. As they head out, both have a lot of CASUALTIES to overcome.
CASUALTIES has a lot of depth. Two stories, and yet Ruth and Casey come together to try and help each other over the pain. I can relate to Ruth's story. I lost my nephew nineteen years ago to a drunk driver. I know what it feels like never to be able to say goodbye, and while one is a suicide and one is as people call it an accident, both are dead.
Any book that can bring me to tears is a winner. I would like to see a sequel to CASUALTIES to see how Casey's and Ruth's lives turned out.
A heartbreaking and insightful debut novel about the wars we fight overseas, at home, and within our own hearts. Some come back whole. Some come back broken. Some just never come back... As an executive for one of the most successful military defense contractors in the country, Ruth Nolan should have been thrilled when her troubled son, Robbie, chose to join the marines. But she wasn’t. She was terrified. So, when he returns home to San Diego after his second tour in Iraq, apparently unscathed, it feels like a chance to start over and make things right—until a scandal at work tears her away from their reunion. By the next morning, Robbie is gone. A note arrives for Ruth in the mail a few days later saying, “I’m sorry for everything. It’s not your fault. I love you.” Without a backward glance, Ruth packs up Robbie’s ashes and drives east, heading away from her guilt and regret. But the closer she gets to the coast she was born on, the more evident it becomes that she won’t outrun her demons—eventually, she’ll have to face them and confront the painful truth about her past, her choices, the war, and her son.
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