"Wreck can stand on its own, but chances are, you'll want to read both books. Wreck's cover, like Sandwich's, features a soft-focus photograph of an alluring porch-fronted all-American house that telegraphs that this novel is not about a real estate teardown. In fact, the title refers to Rocky's state after being knocked off-kilter by a serious health scare and a local train crash that hits too close to home."
"Newman's novel is animated more by wit, warmth, and worry than by plot. Its plot, such as it is, is set in motion when insomniacal Rocky, awake in the wee hours, googles the insidious rash that is spreading over her body. That's mistake number one. Mistake number two is reading a local news report about a high school classmate of her son's, who has been killed in a collision with an oncoming train at a railroad crossing."
Rocky returns two years later, living in western Massachusetts with her family. A serious health scare and a nearby train crash unsettle her equilibrium. Insomniacal Rocky's late-night web searches about a spreading rash trigger a frightening medical odyssey. The train collision that kills a local teenager prompts disturbing theories involving cost-cutting maintenance advice from a consulting firm. The narrative favors wit, warmth, and worry over momentum-driven plot, balancing comic narration with earnest reflections on impermanence. A soft-focus cover image and the title underscore Rocky's shaken state, and the story reads well on its own.
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