Ironic humor and tender but probing character writing mark Rindo's third story collection (after Secrets Men Keep
), an examination of the erratic behavior of men in and out of love. In the title story, a married man who's just returned home from a rendezvous with his lover bears witness to an even more troubled marriage than his own when his neighbor calls on him to help bury his beloved dog. The narrator of "Crop Duster" sleeps outside his ex-wife's new house, mourning the losses of her to divorce and their young son to a fatal accident, until another loss brings closure. The misfit teenager in "Adrienne's Perfection" discovers with a mix of sorrow and wonder that his completely different and supposedly perfect sister has some very dark secrets, and the slacker teacher in "Instructional Technologies" changes lives by ignoring the standard curriculum in favor of showing his students how to fly fish. Rindo displays a fine feel for the rhythms of marriage as well as the rhythms of Midwestern life, and his conclusions' graceful, sometimes understated emotionality balance out the intermittent gimmicky conceit. (Oct.)
