The Testing of Luther Albright

Luther Albright has it all: a top civil engineering position with the Sacramento department of water services; a lovely home he designed and built himself; a beautiful, loving wife; and a teenage son who shares his passion for household construction and repair. But when an earthquake rattles his house's foundation, faults in Luther's design expose deeper cracks in the life he's built with his family. Bezos's impressive, quietly powerful debut, narrated 20 years later by a reflective and regretful Luther, charts a year in stages, revolving around a series of "tests" performed on Luther by his son, Elliot. Ranging from shaving his head to reckless horseplay on the roof, Elliot's tests never stray far beyond the limits of typical teenage rebellion. But Luther, crippled by his inability to communicate with his maturing son, chooses inaction and evasion in the face of them. Bezos scrutinizes her protagonist's every thought, fear and action as he unwittingly distances himself from his beloved wife and son, uncovering a heartbreaking family dissolution steeped not in melodrama but in the irrevocable damage done when one member closes himself off from the rest. Bezos (wife of Amazon.com founder Jeff) captures the extraordinary in the ordinary, revealing a subtle imagination and a startling talent for naturalism. Agent, Amanda Urban . (Aug.)