“In the Fall, They Come Back” by Robert Bausch

I’m FB friends with the writer Richard Bausch and mistakenly thought I was buying his book when I purchased Robert Bausch’s IN THE FALL, THEY COME BACK. It’s the story of Ben Jameson, a young prep school teacher, and his attempts to right some horrific wrongs he encounters in his first teaching job.

I was immediately hooked by the story and the writing. In some ways, IN THE FALL, THEY COME BACK is a quiet story, understated, but it’s also intense and powerful. Ben, well-meaning and rather naive, inserts himself into some dangerous situations, and, in many cases, is trapped in those situations with no way out that’s not painful (Think wealthy, power hungry, abusive parents, determined to have their teacher-torturing children graduate and to squelch to the point of ruin any newbie teachers who attempt to buck them.)

The author does a good job with his characters, showing their eccentricities, vulnerabilities, and (in the case of the truly dangerous students) their potential for destroying teachers who cross them. They’re right on the edge of would someone really act like that?, but still believable.

I’ve heard that a good way to create empathy for one’s protagonist is to “put her/him in a corner and then throw rocks at her/him.” Bausch does this well. I don’t remember when I’ve wanted so much to know what would happen next to a protagonist. First person works well for this novel and helped me understand Ben’s motivations for stepping a bit too hard into situations fraught with warning.

IN THE FALL, THEY COME BACK is not without flaws. Ben’s relationship with his fiancee is not delved into deeply enough to satisfy me nor help me understand the outcome. No background on Ben is provided to make sense of his sometimes puzzling reactions. I found the ending so-so.  But, I’ll order more books by Robert Bausch, this time, on purpose. IN THE FALL, THEY COME BACK is a well-written page turner.

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