Denting the Bosch

Link’s pleasant debut follows three middle-aged friends as they navigate unexpected faults in their heretofore fairy tale marriages. After 9/11, Adele and Drew Gold happily moved from New York to San Diego, but six years later, she’s ready for the next stage of their plan: building a house somewhere besides Southern California. But when her best friend Sylvia Ott’s husband, Carl, suddenly wants a divorce, Adele begins questioning her own marriage. Meanwhile, Maggie Hanlon, confronted with the implosions of her friends’ lives, mulls over the distance she feels from her husband, Paul, and the torch she still carries for college boyfriend Mitch. The three women travel to a retreat in Canada for a break from their troubles, but things only get worse. Sylvia throws a tantrum, Maggie runs into Mitch, and Adele gets lost in the woods overnight. The friends manage to pull together and find their way to futures that are not what they expected, but are stronger and better than they could have imagined. Though these characters’ quandaries may seem nonevents to many readers, Link’s sympathetic humor makes this an enjoyable read. Agent: Ike Williams, the Kneerim & Williams Agency. (Aug.)