Sean Courtland wasn't planning to stop in the small town but that's where his truck decided to break down. With a truck repair he wasn't planning on, he is glad to hear about a man who needs a job done as Sean is a handyman who can do about anything. He makes his living on the road, traveling from town to town and picking up work where he can. The job is to build an extension onto an old house for a laundry room and move the ancient machines the man who lives there is using from the basement to the new room. The man is old and is finding it difficult to get up and down the stairs to do laundry.
Before he can start, Sean finds trouble. He is minding his own business in a bar when he hears a man talking trash to and about a waitress. He tells him to stop and the man comes up swinging at him. In the fight that ensues, he manages to stop the man but also hits the waitress. He is taken downtown to the police station but when his story matches that of the waitress he is allowed to leave. He later starts dating the waitress.
He also finds a friend. He meets Dan over breakfast and hires him to help on the job. Dan knows plumbing better than Sean and he can use the help. Dan is also on the road but seems to have a secret. Because of that, Sean doesn't tell him about the secret surrounding the old man who is hiring them. The town had three boys disappear forty years ago, one each year and the rumor is that the old man was the one responsible but no evidence had ever been found.
Like his protagonist, Tim Johnston made his living for more than twenty years as a carpenter. That expertise shows in his description of the work Sean does. But this story is about mistakes made, guilt felt for surviving when others didn't and the reconciliation of those who feel guilt with their families. Both Sean and Dan are wandering, uneasy until they can put the problems in their pasts behind them once and for all. This book is recommended for mystery readers and those interested in redemption.
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