Abandoned in a river as a baby and adopted by a local fisherman, Trenton Mire grew up in a town called Pluto. As a boy, he grew up bookish, undersized, and different. He hated the pitying looks and inevitable bullying. When the opportunity for escape finally came, not even the booming steel mill, his best friend, or his first love could keep him from leaving. Now, Trenton must leave his pregnant wife to be with his dying father. The trip home to the small Pennsylvania town, now a burned-out shell, floods Trenton with memory. The town has become a wild menagerie of monsters: the legendary, disfigured Green Man; the merciless teacher, Killya; and the hulking, vengeful best friend – and his new fiancé.Can Trenton overcome these monsters, navigate the floodwaters of regret and revenge, escape again to see his own child’s birth?From In and Out of the River: As much as Trenton hoped that she would be here, he knew that he might be here, as well. He with the coal black hair and the voice like the low rumble of a diesel engine. The thought, the risk, kept him frozen there in the rain, and it nearly forced him to turn around, go back to his father’s house, force this night back out of reality and safely into dreams. But, Trenton, in that moment, took stock of his life. His father, up on the hill, was dying, and he could do nothing to change that. His wife, a thousand miles away, was in a quiet fight for the life inside her, and he could do nothing to change that. And now, he stood gripped by fear and wonder, and felt again powerless to resolve either. He had been dutiful, nothing but dutiful, and the duty was rewarded only with a feeling of blind emptiness. It was a feeling he was beginning to hate. So, he lowered his head, put eyes forward, and walked with all the strength he could find behind the garage. He did not know which monster awaited him, but he couldn’t stay afraid forever.