[very nice copy, book itself is tight and clean with no discernible wear; jacket shows only light surface wear]. "A brilliantly honest tale of right, wrong, and heartache. In his late thirties, Max Fischer is a successful cartoonist living in Los Angeles. Scarred by recent love affairs, he is cautious yet intrigued when he meets Lily Aaron and her nine-year-old son Lincoln. Lily, the manager of an offbeat restaurant, devotes her life to raising her son alone. As Max spends time with the Aarons, he falls irresistibly in love with them. The perfect mate, the perfect child -- the perfect situation, since they seem to love him, too, with equal intensity. But as soon as Max moves in with the Aarons, he starts to uncover disturbing secrets about Lily. He can find no trace of her ex-husband. Worse, he discovers she has committed a crime so heinous that she has been running from the truth for years."