Thorn Tree by Max Ludington

Daniel Tunison, a reclusive artist now in his late sixties, lives in a quietly appointed former guest cottage in Hollywood Hills. Known for one briefly monumental and massive sculpture, Thorn Tree, that he constructed from scrap metal in the Mojave desert in the 1970s, Daniel is haunted by past tragedy and a lifetime of mistakes made along the way.

Daniel's neighbor is Celia Dressler, a fragile actress hoping for a career resurgence following her own series of personal setbacks. While Celia is away filming a movie, she entrusts the care of her young son, Dean, to her enigmatic father, Jack, who has been living with them. As Dean befriends Daniel, Jack's increasingly unsettling presence leaves Daniel feeling hesitant and wary as he gets glimpses of another man lurking just beneath the surface. As Ludington begins filling in both Daniel's and Jack's pasts, we discover hidden depths and long-held secrets in the gritty and tumultuous scene of late 1960s Los Angeles.

Thorn Tree is a masterful piece of gorgeously constructed literary fiction from new-to-me author, Max Ludington. Filled with interesting characters, the pull of Thorn Tree was not only discovering more about the burgeoning story, but also in spending time learning about Daniel, the backbone of the novel. From the first page, the depth and care in the creation of Daniel was evident. The allure of Thorn Tree is an increasingly tension-filled tale and the convergence of the past timeline and the present, unfolding in degrees so subtle that I gasped out loud at one part. Before I knew it, the book simply became unputdownable.

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This affected neither my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.