It was very exciting to learn that this summer I can read a new Kevin Wilson book. The humor is delivered deadpan, and threaded through every page. The characters are very real, believable people, and you will actually care about what happens to each one. And it is told as a road trip, with a quest, the very best type of summer book. This isn’t just a lark, however, it’s very momentous for these characters, in spite of the quirky humor. The subject is serious, but we can’t take them too seriously.

Be sure to check out my reviews, and read Wilson’s two previous books: Nothing To See Here (https://www.margueritereads.com/home/nothing-so-see-here-by-kevin-wilson?rq=kevin%20wilson), and Now Is Not the Time to Panic (https://www.margueritereads.com/home/now-is-not-the-time-to-panic-by-kevin-wilson?rq=now%20is%20not%20the%20time%20to%20panic ).

Run For the Hills tells the story of the Hill family, known to us at the start as mother Rachel, daughter Madeline Hill, who goes as Mad, and the missing father, Chuck Hill, who left the family mysteriously when Mad was about eleven. Now at 32, she has run their organic farm in Tennessee with her mom, which has been both rewarding and lonely. It is out of the blue on this spring day, when a PT Cruiser pulls up to their farm stand, and Mad meets her older half brother Reuben, known as Rube, from Boston. Seems their father re-invented himself every 10-15 years, developing a career, forming a relationship, starting a family, only to disappear, abandoning all without looking back. Rube offers Mad an opportunity for adventure and closure— he has collected information from a private detective, locating two other half siblings, AND their father. Wouldn’t she want to drive cross country to meet and gather the siblings, then confront the man who abandoned them all?

Wilson builds just enough eccentricities into his characters to make them interesting and human. We have Mad, who has never ventured from the farm (except for in-state college), but has made a noteworthy success as an organic farmer; Rube, the oldest sibling, who writes popular mystery novels; Pepper, nicknamed Pep, an accomplished college basketball player in her senior year; and Theron, going by Tom, a precocious eleven year old independent film maker. Rube and Mad manage to convince Pep, then Tom (Tom’s mother) to travel with them to California, to confront their father, and get answers to all their burning questions. Why would you just leave me, with no explanation? Why would you never contact me to know if I’m okay, and so I could know you were okay? Who does something like this? Don’t you know what abandoning a kid does to them? Wilson handles each of these tricky scenarios very satisfactorily, in a satisfying way, and somehow, with some good humor.

This is a touching, heart warming book, showing the importance of love in a family. Parents are never perfect, but in spite of that, they should always bring love to their efforts. We can forgive a great deal if we know we matter, and are loved. Likewise, sibling love can be so important, to those lucky enough to experience it. Each of these characters was an only child, discovering one day that they were not alone, but part of a larger family. Wilson works all sorts of questions into this story, and it is certainly worth your time, on several levels. And lucky you if you haven’t read Kevin Wilson before— now you can enjoy all three books.