Preview of The Deep End of the Ocean Summary:

Surviving the unsurvivable, overcoming a trauma, and managing to begin to become a whole family again is what The Deep End of the Ocean is about. Violence is done to the Cappadora family, a violence unseen and unspeakable. There are no broken bones or bodies, only broken hearts. The family is torn apart by the disappearance of Ben; the relationships can never be the same. Jeff Giles, writing in Newsweek, calls this "violence done to the human heart." The loss of nine years of family togetherness is a loss nothing can replace. Relationships undergo a strain that threatens to obliterate the family.

Beth is not the perfect mother before she loses Ben. She becomes almost no mother at all after his loss. Her dependence on Vincent before that horrible day is almost more than the child can bear. After that day, Vincent takes her place with Kerry, seeing...