With the manuscript of my new novel, ‘Finding Fault’, set to be completed this week, here’s the re-jigged teaser for all and sundry…

‘Finding Fault’ – Darren Groth

The Richter twins stood firm on shaky ground.

At age four, their tortured mother, Leonie, walked out on the family.  On the cusp of adulthood, their beloved father, Dan, died of cancer.  Now in their early twenties, the twins remain defined by their symbiotic relationship: sole, at-home carer, Justine; and disabled, ‘Extra-Sensory’ Perry.

In August of 2010, their four year reliance on each other is set to shift.  Perry has been accepted into an assisted-living residence on the outskirts of Brisbane and is ready to pursue independence beyond the family home.  Justine has designs on a previously deferred literature major and a next-level relationship with her earnest and eager boyfriend, Marc.  Before they go their separate ways, the siblings seek to create a gilded memory, embarking on a two week Pacific Northwest adventure of delight and discovery.  For Perry, the trip is intended as the quintessential ‘tour of pleasures’; a glorious engagement of his favourite interests: mythical sea monsters, Jackie Chan movies and the study of earthquakes.  For Justine, it is a chance to reconcile the decision to ‘free’ her twin and offer long-absent Leonie – still single and living alone in Vancouver – the chance to atone for past wrongs.

The instability that has shaped their lives, though, will not subside.  The impatience and insensitivity of the temporarily abandoned Marc forces Justine to end their relationship over the phone.  A ruse perpetrated on the streets of Seattle sees Perry alone and distressed at the West Precinct police station.  In Vancouver, Leonie’s sincere but flawed efforts to connect with her ‘children’ places a blended familial future in jeopardy.

Then the seismic event that Extra Sensory Perry forewarned threatens to reduce all their worlds to rubble.

An ambitious and captivating story of humanity, Finding Fault is a timely portrayal of an imperfect family in an unstable world, and reminds us our ultimate reliance on others is unshakeable.