Finished: The Leftovers (Perrotta). eh, not as good as I hoped it would be. This is supposed to be one of my summer page-turners that I can read on the treadmill, but this Left Behind rip-off, sans in depth Rapture angle, wasn't as page-turnery as I hoped. In this story, we are focused on the town of Mapleton where in one instant, people of all ages, shapes, religious affiliations, and morals suddenly disappear. There is no apparent rhyme or reason, though there is a contingency of people who do believe it was the biblical Rapture. These people form a group called the Guilty Remnant, leave their families, live in a commune, begin wearing all white, take a vow of silence, and start smoking cigarettes...yes, that's a requirement. In pairs they creepily stalk and follow other people who are trying to get on with their lives in the town. During the course of the story, two GR's are murdered and skittish town folk are suspected. By the end of the story, there is a third GR death, and the reader comes to see how far down the road to martyrdom the Guilty Remnants will go to make their point. One of the main characters of the story is Kevin Garvey. He and his wife, Laurie, are a normal, busy, harried couple with two teenage children when the event occurs. None of their family disappears! However, 13 year old Jill's best friend disappears before her eyes. College freshman Tom becomes too freaked out by the whole thing and leaves college to go and follow the whackadoodle man, Gilchrest, who forms a sort of cult across the country when his young son vanishes. All kinds of young folks follow him, and he eventually gets a big head and starts taking young teenage "wives", trying to father the "chosen" son who will lead them all to some kind of salvation? Anyway, Tom gets mixed up in that group. Meanwhile, Laurie, the mother who should be thanking her lucky stars that her family remained intact can't get over the where, why, and how of it all. She leaves her family to join the Guilty Remnants!! Ugh. I hate, absolutely abhor, mothers in stories who abandon their children. I think we are supposed to feel something for her, but nothing I feel towards her is positive. So, three years later, Kevin has tried to pick up the pieces and he's become mayor of the town. He rarely speaks to his son who sometimes calls from the road. And, Jill, a former straight A student, has shaved her head, let her grades slack, and fallen in with the druggie group...including her new best friend Aimee who moves in with Kevin and Jill. Jill clearly aches for her mother and can never understand why she left them. On the other side of town there is another mother, Nora, whose husband, 6 year old son and 4 year old daughter all disappeared from the dinner table in a snap. She's considered somewhat of a town hero as she's considered the "most affected", having lost everyone. Nora and Kevin attempt dating, but Nora truly can't get over her lost family. She spends most of her days watching reruns of her son's old favorite cartoon, Sponge Bob Squarepants. Anyway...blah, blah, blah...the story follows everyone as they make decisions on where to go next with their lives. The problem is I just never grew to care that much about the characters. The ending does supply a couple of surprises, one a bit nice that might actually draw Kevin and Nora together. And, one that is a little shocking that regards that martyrdom issue and Laurie. As I said in the first sentence, eh. However, lol, I think I will tune in and watch at least one episode of the upcoming television series just to see how closely they follow the book. :-)