With her relationship with Jack as shaky as the foundation of her family home, psychic realtor Melanie Middleton is juggling several problems. There are the usual upsets that come with restoring her Tradd Street home and her mother urging her to go public with her sixth sense. But this new problem is more urgent. Nola, Jack's estranged young daughter, has appeared on Melanie's doorstep -- damaged, lonely, and defiantly immune to her father's attempts...

Viewing an apartment normally doesn't turn into a life-or-death situation, but this particular open house becomes just that: a failed bank robber bursts in and takes everyone in the apartment hostage. As police surround the premises and television channels broadcast the hostage situation live, the eight strangers begin opening up to one another. Before long, the robber must decide which is the more terrifying prospect: going out to face the police,...

Blackston gives a whole new meaning to modern dating practices. Jay Jarvis, a successful stock broker, decides that the best way to meet eligible woman is to join a church singles group. The ensuing misadventures are delightful as Jay meets quirky people, including a Caddie-driving speed demon, an insightful African-American janitor, and. . .the perfect woman. The only problem is that she's a missionary in Ecuador. As Jay becomes a much wiser man,...

Frank Bascombe's story resumes, in the fall of 2000, with the presidential election still hanging in the balance and Thanksgiving looming before him with all the perils of a post-nuclear family get-together. He's now plying his trade as a realtor on the Jersey shore and contending with health, marital and familial issues that have his full attention: "all the ways that life seems like life at age fifty-five strewn around me like poppies."