Loch features a family broken by the death of a loving, patient mother—a family that has yet to heal. Sam Perkins has followed money and taken a job in which he must endure the belittling treatment of a self-absorbed boss. His children are not coping well with the situation, even though their father is earning enough money to provide them with luxuries such as hang gliders and laptop computers, and his job provides them with numerous adventures that most people can only dream about. The novel is partly about how the father and his children heal some of their wounds and find a common ground of understanding. Although the novel places the greater burden on the father for the family's difficulties, his behavior is well motivated and easy to sympathize with.

Much more likely to worry adults are the sharply delineated scenes of violent...