In a novel that is part science fiction and part Stephen King chiller, Bennett introduces us to the residents of Wink, New Mexico through ex-cop Mona Bright who inherits her mother’s house in the seemingly non-existent town. Wink appears perfect, stuck in the atomic age when the research laboratory in town was the main source of the citizens’ livelihood. Even though a beautiful pink moon shines down nightly, no one goes out after dark. Mona wonders why her mother never mentioned Wink, all the while feeling the draw of the strange forces at work there.

Ben and Helen Armstead’s marriage has reached a dead end, but it just keeps chugging along until Ben’s actions with a summer intern finally push it over the edge. Helen returns to work, finding employment in a little PR firm where her unique talent for getting clients to issue apologies seems to be a wave of the future. Too bad she couldn’t work the same magic on her own husband. Dee was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his last novel, Privileges (2010), and his comments on contemporary life are always astute.