Trial by Water

This first novel in two decades by the author of Among Thieves is well worth the wait. Set in a Massachusetts community that resembles those in the Berkshire region around Pittsfield and Lenox, the book focuses on Florian Rubio, a land speculator who has transcended his Bronx origins and is riding a wave of success--until his son Brian is put on trial for manslaughter. Brian is accused of causing the deaths of two other teenagers whose car he forced off a boat ramp into a lake, a gruesome accident that concluded a wild night of class warfare between kids from rival high schools. The suspenseful narrative also offers an insightful exploration of the tensions among three generations of the Rubios, Florian's parents having lived with him since his divorce. At the same time that his son's problems are brewing, Florian is drifting into a relationship with a schoolteacher neighbor, whose marriage is disintegrating. Cuomo handles this potentially melodramatic material with taste and reserve. Keenly attuned to social conventions, he casts an observant eye on the rituals of small-town life. He has a canny understanding of the semiotics of class, illuminating the tensions between the neighboring high schools and the towns they represent--one working-class, the other affluent. Finally, he sensitively portrays the interactions between fathers and sons, the fumbling ways that American men communicate their love for one another. (Jan.)