When you lose a child, you become
someone you don’t want to be, and you
have to be that person for the rest of your
life . . . I am a person I never wanted to be.
A person who has lost a child.

Sorrow is David Caldwell's daily compan­ion. Seven years ago, his thirteen-year-old son, Todd, killed his baby brother in an incident that was never fully ex­plained, never quite forgiven. David hasn't seen Todd since he was released from juve­nile prison two years ago. Now David wants to bring what's left of his family together again.

He arranges to meet Todd while on a temporary assignment as sheriff of Columbia Beach, the fading resort town where the fam­ily used to vacation. But Columbia Beach has troubles of its own. Cecil Edwards, a giant of a man, holds the town in his bullying grip. And a mysterious young woman, Lindsey Hunter, is quietly slipping into Cecil's life and raising the town's suspicions.

During the chilly months of the off-season, these four lives will intersect in ways both tender and violent. Old wounds will be ex­posed, broken hearts will be mended, and a new family bond will be created.

With the intensity of a Shakespearean tragedy, Robert Bausch draws on the heart­break of loss and the power of redemption like no other writer. 

Praise for Out of Season

 “This novel blew my mind and tore open my heart.
A brilliant exploration of human darkness,
delusion, and desire for redemption.”
—Beth Henley, author of Crimes of the Heart