BookBrowse Reviews Four for the Road by K J. Reilly

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An eclectic group of people mired in loss embark on a road trip to Graceland, each with their own agenda, and one with plans to murder. What transpires is a hilarious and touching journey.

K.J. Reilly puts forth a compelling cast of quirky and endearing characters in this coming-of-age novel that captures grief through the eyes of an adolescent boy. New Jersey teenager Asher Hunting is hell-bent on punishing the drunken truck driver, dubbed "Jack Daniels," who collided with his mother, while she was traveling home from the mall after buying Asher special soccer cleats, in an accident that resulted in her death. As part of a plot for revenge, he connects with the driver's daughter, Grace, and asks her to prom despite the thousand miles that separate them. Reilly invokes a stream-of-consciousness narrative to capture Asher's rumination over the accident itself (it was his fault because his mother was buying his lime green Nike Superflys), as well as how he plans to murder Jack Daniels, which involves a trip to Memphis with a tuxedo and a baseball bat.

Asher, awash with grief, perseverates over the reasons for his mother's death, coming up with a list of people who "killed" her, including "David Beckham for making [him] love soccer," as well as himself. He disparages the school psychologist, calling him "HeWhoKnowsNothingAtAll," and initially provokes those in his bereavement group with the retort of "At least you have a mother." However, it is not long before Asher realizes that the other group members are tethered to him by grief. He befriends a boy named Will, who has lost his brother to cancer, and discovers solace in finding someone who is "being swallowed by the same tar pit." He agrees to plant sweet peas with the aging Henry in memory of his lost wife of 50 years. He checks in on Sloane, who has been hiding in the bathroom of her school since her father died. He forms the type of bonds with these characters that only devastating loss could forge, and then casually asks them if they want to go to Graceland, where Henry had always hoped to take his wife.

While Asher's rambling inner monologues parallel those of J.D. Salinger's famous character Holden Caulfield, Asher has an ace up his sleeve that eluded Holden: steadfast friends and wise allies. Asher is fortunate enough to have a father who empathizes with his need to watch out for his little sister Chloe's safety following his mother's death, even if it means putting a helmet, life preserver and tin foil on her to protect her from "the top killers of children under the age of five," such as drowning and low frequency electromagnetic radiation. The bereavement group moderator, who Asher nicknames Peter Pan due to her sprightly tendencies, provides him and other members with coping techniques, doling out copies of The Little Prince for philosophical advice and creating an M&M-based reward system. She sagely reminds the group, "You can't be self-destructive sad." Armed with this motto, as well as a supply of M&Ms, the four main characters hit the road.

While Henry, Sloane and Will are unaware of Asher's revenge plot, they each have their own agenda. The peculiarities of the travelers provide comic relief, and their collective strength gives the reader a sense of comfort that Asher will ultimately "turn his wounds into wisdom." Will has a penchant for quoting philosophers, Sloane possesses a depth of compassion and Henry carries with him, quite literally, his deceased wife of 50 years as she accompanies the group in her urn. Although at times the plot feels a bit fantastical, such as in Asher's elaborate catfishing of Jack Daniels' daughter, the work provides an authentic narrative of teenagers trying to make their way to adulthood amidst astounding odds and breathtaking loss. Reilly underscores the timeless earmarks of resiliency: friends who save us from ourselves, and the capacity "to cling to something we're not entirely sure can hold us up," such as hope.

Four for the Road offers something to young adults, as well as older ones, who have felt a loss of great magnitude, and have hopefully been fortunate enough to have a pit crew waiting on the sidelines to facilitate the journey through grief. Although some of Asher's preoccupations revolve around violence and the graphic details of his mother's death, Reilly provides the foreshadowing necessary to allay any of her audience's fears that he might make a poor choice.

This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in October 2022, and has been updated for the September 2023 edition. Click here to go to this issue.