Thanksgiving Night (2006)

Kooky relatives, drunken antics, and near-death experiences are fodder enough for three tomes. Richard Bausch packs all that and a hostage situation into Thanksgiving Night, his 10th novel, eschewing schmaltz and eliciting uncommon emotions (compassion for a cheating husband, ire for a wronged wife) at every stage. Even his use of a cliché family celebration is easily forgiven; the November day is just one of many described in vivid, unfussy prose. (Of an August afternoon: ''Stillness. Not even an airplane in the sky. Some celestial creature landing here might think the whole world a quiet place, deserted or abandoned.'') For this, we are thankful.