Characters are introduced slowly--we get to know them a bit before moving on to another. Gradually the interconnections build--in a small town there are many interconnections as well as family relationships

It is a novel about the past haunting the present, about relationships forming and dissolving. It is about learning to see the world through others' eyes. It is about free will and lack of control. It is about aging--people, property, and town. It is about courage and fear. And recklessness.

The main character, Sully, is not someone I'd expect to like IRL however, in the novel he is quite a likeable character even when I feel like yelling at him. He gets in and out of scrapes--mostly in.

Character dominates, but there is plot--conflicts to resolve, missions to accomplish. The pace is slow and comfortable as at least some of the characters learn what they need to know to grow and move on.