Kirkus
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Carlson's fifth novel, in which two native sons return after a long absence. Back in 1969, high school senior Jimmy Brand rounded up three other seniors to form a garage band. The four guys savored their first assertion of independence, a taste of glory, but it all went to hell at the end of the school year. Jimmy's big brother Matt, football hero and toast of the town, got stinking drunk; out alone on the reservoir in his father's boat, he ended up cut to pieces. A devastated Jimmy left town right after the accident. Now it's 30 years later, and Jimmy, a gay New York writer stricken by AIDS, has come home to die. While his mom is tenderly welcoming, his dad doesn't want him in the house, so Jimmy bunks in the garage, their old rehearsal space. This is the story of that once tightknit group. The erstwhile drummer, Mason, a successful lawyer with his own firm in Denver, has returned to sell his childhood home. The visit leads to soul-searching by this unhappy, driven man. He feels better refurbishing his house; he's joined by Craig, the hardware store owner, who'd rather spackle and paint than make nice to his customers. The pleasure of physical exertion is a major theme. The fourth member of the quartet, saloon owner Frank, rejuvenated by his second marriage, has no worries. Also featured prominently are Craig's 17-year-old son, Larry, who loves his town but is ready to move on, and his wife, Marci, tempted to leave him for her boss. Jimmy has just enough strength to help Larry's eventual girlfriend find her identity through her story writing and to sing along with the guys, who have re-formed the band and entered a talent contest. Sentimentality is the obvious trap, but Carlson avoids it. More problematic is the way that the reservoir accident remains unfinished business after 30 years. Carlson's book affectionately captures the rhythms of small-town life. It's an understated work, spread a little too thin.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Library Journal
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The small town of Oakpine, WY, is abuzz: Jimmy Brand is coming home. Jimmy made it big in New York as a writer, but he's out of money and friends, and he has come home to die. Since his father forbids Jimmy to stay in the house, his mother enlists Jimmy's old friend Craig to turn the garage into a small apartment for Jimmy. Thirty years ago, while they were in high school, Jimmy and Craig had joined with friends Frank and Mason to form a rock and roll band that practiced in this very garage. Eventually, Craig went to Vietnam and returned to work in his father's hardware store; fixing up the old garage has put the spark back in Craig's life. Frank also stayed in town, bought real estate, and now owns a brewpub. Mason became a respected Denver attorney but has separated from his wife and is at loose ends. He has come back to Oakpine only to sell his folks' old place. As the four friends resurrect the band, long-held secrets are revealed and new beginnings forged. VERDICT With spirit and grace, Carlson (The Signal) has caught the essence of what might have been, as well as the importance of friends and family. A touching and affecting work of literary fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 1/25/13.]-Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Palisade, CO (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly
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The smalltown homecoming featured in the fourth novel from Carlson (The Signal) proves a bittersweet and nostalgic one. Jimmy Brand, following a 30-year absence from his hometown and a successful career in New York City as a novelist, returns to Oakpine, Wyo., in 1999, broke and deathly ill from AIDS. His father Edgar, still wrongly blaming Jimmy for his oldest son Matt's fatal boating accident and struggling to accept Jimmy's homosexuality, banishes him to the family's garage-converted apartment. Jimmy's old friend Craig Ralston, the town hardware store owner, comes by with his teenage son, Larry, to fix up the garage, sparking Craig's fond memories of their high school band, Life on Earth. Craig, along with fellow bandmates Mason Kirby, who left Oakpine to pursue a lucrative law career in Denver, and Frank Gunderson, a local bar owner, decide to resurrect Life on Earth, a welcomed diversion from their divorces and unsatisfying jobs, while Jimmy seeks to repair the long-term rift with his father. Carlson warmly evokes smalltown life, such as when he describes Larry's senior high school prom, and this sometimes-melancholy tale reaches a satisfying conclusion with the reunited rock group's entry into a local battle-of-the-bands contest. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt and Hochman. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.