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Reckoning Waves
After fleeing from Panic River four years earlier, Corey Flanagan has now changed virtually everything in his life—where he lives, how he creates art, his routines for work and play, and even his last name. The only true constants are his best friend Billy, his mother Ginny, and frequent, troubling dreams about the shootings he ran from and for which Corey was never held to account.
Now living in California, Corey passionately paints landscapes in the style of Edward Hopper, while seeing his life and his surroundings more clearly and generating award-winning art. Another life change surprises Corey as well—an unexpected romance with a younger man, Miguel. This is a relationship that will challenge Corey to finally become a person of complete honesty, both with those he loves and also with himself.
The fraught and fractured past Corey ran from four years earlier eventually catches up with him in unforeseen ways, dragging Corey back to the Midwest for a reckoning with his unresolved former life—healing his estrangement from long-time friend and once-lover Carol, settling scores with his twenty-year partner Nick, and confronting the guilt and responsibility for the accidental killing a trucker with whom Corey had a regrettable one-night tryst.
Other unexpected discoveries and life changes revealed while he toils in the Midwest will forever after affect Corey’s life as well as those he loves the most. Yet through it all, Corey’s personal journey toward healing, honesty, understanding, and love will carry him along the path of becoming a man, and to places from which he no longer needs to run.
Now living in California, Corey passionately paints landscapes in the style of Edward Hopper, while seeing his life and his surroundings more clearly and generating award-winning art. Another life change surprises Corey as well—an unexpected romance with a younger man, Miguel. This is a relationship that will challenge Corey to finally become a person of complete honesty, both with those he loves and also with himself.
The fraught and fractured past Corey ran from four years earlier eventually catches up with him in unforeseen ways, dragging Corey back to the Midwest for a reckoning with his unresolved former life—healing his estrangement from long-time friend and once-lover Carol, settling scores with his twenty-year partner Nick, and confronting the guilt and responsibility for the accidental killing a trucker with whom Corey had a regrettable one-night tryst.
Other unexpected discoveries and life changes revealed while he toils in the Midwest will forever after affect Corey’s life as well as those he loves the most. Yet through it all, Corey’s personal journey toward healing, honesty, understanding, and love will carry him along the path of becoming a man, and to places from which he no longer needs to run.
318 pages, Paperback
Published January 31, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 24, 2022
Midwest Book Review:
“Reckoning Waves juxtaposes a story of retribution, redemption, and recovery with one of love and revenge.”
“ … psychological depth …”
“ … solidly intriguing and thought-provoking … a vivid tale…”
“Readers won’t anticipate the epilogue that concludes this story, or the forces that work both with and against Corey to help him create a different life.”
Portland Book Review :
5 out of 5 Stars
“… peak-level entertainment and engagement … a spectacular and tasteful work of art…”
“Foster perfects the art of creating an addictive narrative … just the right amount of suspense, camaraderie, romance, drama, and depth.”
“… every seemingly insignificant event leads to a larger one that fits into the story effortlessly.”
“Reckoning Waves is a gripping, emotional, and thought-provoking journey into love, loss, and ultimately redemption. Foster beautifully captures not only his protagonist’s struggle in this page-turning thriller, but also other characters’ journeys to find forgiveness for and from others; and then, hardest of all, realizing they may never be forgiven, but instead need to find it for themselves.”
Nicole Sobchack, award-winning writer and producer of “Please Tell Me I’m Adopted”
“When you have what you want most—love, a passion for art, a home in paradise—you think you've outrun your past. But without honesty, life is fragile. RECKONING WAVES tosses its protagonist right back into his guilt, where he might lose everything. Foster writes with deep heart and keen specificity.”
Sandra Scofield, American Book Award winning author of Swim: Stories of the Sixties and The Last Draft
"Equal parts thrilling and tender, Reckoning Waves is a triumphantly important novel about what we carry with us and how it might be possible to seek redemption for our sins. Once again, Foster has written another must-read."
—Robert James Russell, author of Mesilla and Sea of Trees
“In Reckoning Waves, Corey Flanagan's art imitates life and his life imitates art. Foster deftly weaves together an artist’s struggle to paint the perfect scene with his struggle to navigate a reckoning with his past. In page-turning suspense, readers follow Corey’s journey toward truth, both in his art and in his life.” Ronald C. Nelson, Executive Director, Long Beach Museum of Art
“Reckoning Waves picks right up where Panic River left off. Foster’s effortless prose and creative suspense shine through yet again in this new work. Readers will be swept up in a thrilling tale of new love, old friendships, and the delicate bonds of family where each of those relationships is tested in unexpected ways. Reckoning Waves summons readers deeper into the resonant yet unique life of the novel’s protagonist, Corey Flanagan. Foster delivers on the ultimate literary trifecta—compelling characters, a gripping plot, and drawing readers in to a captivating story.”
Catherine Dehdashti, author of Roseheart and Our Daisy Sale Won't Last Forever (coming in 2022).
“Reckoning Waves juxtaposes a story of retribution, redemption, and recovery with one of love and revenge.”
“ … psychological depth …”
“ … solidly intriguing and thought-provoking … a vivid tale…”
“Readers won’t anticipate the epilogue that concludes this story, or the forces that work both with and against Corey to help him create a different life.”
Portland Book Review :
5 out of 5 Stars
“… peak-level entertainment and engagement … a spectacular and tasteful work of art…”
“Foster perfects the art of creating an addictive narrative … just the right amount of suspense, camaraderie, romance, drama, and depth.”
“… every seemingly insignificant event leads to a larger one that fits into the story effortlessly.”
“Reckoning Waves is a gripping, emotional, and thought-provoking journey into love, loss, and ultimately redemption. Foster beautifully captures not only his protagonist’s struggle in this page-turning thriller, but also other characters’ journeys to find forgiveness for and from others; and then, hardest of all, realizing they may never be forgiven, but instead need to find it for themselves.”
Nicole Sobchack, award-winning writer and producer of “Please Tell Me I’m Adopted”
“When you have what you want most—love, a passion for art, a home in paradise—you think you've outrun your past. But without honesty, life is fragile. RECKONING WAVES tosses its protagonist right back into his guilt, where he might lose everything. Foster writes with deep heart and keen specificity.”
Sandra Scofield, American Book Award winning author of Swim: Stories of the Sixties and The Last Draft
"Equal parts thrilling and tender, Reckoning Waves is a triumphantly important novel about what we carry with us and how it might be possible to seek redemption for our sins. Once again, Foster has written another must-read."
—Robert James Russell, author of Mesilla and Sea of Trees
“In Reckoning Waves, Corey Flanagan's art imitates life and his life imitates art. Foster deftly weaves together an artist’s struggle to paint the perfect scene with his struggle to navigate a reckoning with his past. In page-turning suspense, readers follow Corey’s journey toward truth, both in his art and in his life.” Ronald C. Nelson, Executive Director, Long Beach Museum of Art
“Reckoning Waves picks right up where Panic River left off. Foster’s effortless prose and creative suspense shine through yet again in this new work. Readers will be swept up in a thrilling tale of new love, old friendships, and the delicate bonds of family where each of those relationships is tested in unexpected ways. Reckoning Waves summons readers deeper into the resonant yet unique life of the novel’s protagonist, Corey Flanagan. Foster delivers on the ultimate literary trifecta—compelling characters, a gripping plot, and drawing readers in to a captivating story.”
Catherine Dehdashti, author of Roseheart and Our Daisy Sale Won't Last Forever (coming in 2022).
July 1, 2022
This was a great follow-up to the first novel Panic River. I enjoyed learning where Corey was at in his life after the traumatic events in WI and MN as well as his mom's progress of moving on. I didn't know how he was going to get out of punishment for what he'd done, but the story wove a narrative that made it happen. Looking forward to the third in the series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 25, 2025
😩😩You have to have book three ready to read. What a cliff hanger! So good. 🤩
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews