The novel's protagonist is one David Neisen, a man with a serious leaning in his fight-or-flight complex towards the latter.  As a child, he bears witness to - and is partially responsible for - the death of his closest friend, who drowns while the two engage in otherwise commonplace horseplay.  Rather than, say, running like hell to the authorities of his small Wisconsin town of Black Hawk, David instead opts to continue along his oblivious way.  Later, when the boy's corpse washes ashore, David has no satisfying response to the sheriffs' frustrated interrogations, save for the fact that this was simply how he reacted to the situation. more ›