Eric Schroder, an East German immigrant arrives in the USA and does what can only be described as the quintessential American version of reinventing himself. How truly American it is to be able to start afresh, with no baggage, caste or expectations other than what you set for yourself or create from your own imagination? And what better role model than your own American hero - John F. Kennedy, a man who came to Berlin and declared himself one of you? Eric Schroeder creates a new identity, “Eric Kennedy” - loosely fashioned on a Kennedyish mystique and embraces an alternate childhood recollection of events that slowly pull him in to a point of no return. Of course, his life is a series of lies that leave no room for a shared intimacy or connection - which explains later events.

He grows up, marries and becomes a father - without revealing his true origins. Later, as his marriage falls apart, and he becomes embroiled in a bitter custody battle with his ex, he decides to escape with his daughter in a failed attempt at recreating the magic he shared with her as the devoted father of her childhood.

The book is written as a sort of apologia/letter to his ex, in which he explains himself, his background and the journey he undertook with his daughter, Meadow, that spanned a week and became a televised manhunt. There is a great deal of tenderness and genuine joy he describes when discussing his daughter.

But there is also an enormous amount of narcissism and self indulgent behavior that creates a genuine misgiving about what kind of father/man/ human being Eric really is. As best as I could justify it, I think he was part of the carnage and collateral damage that often occurs when parents get divorced and deal with the war zone that a custody battle entails.

As a divorce lawyer, I cringed in recognition with much of the advice Eric’s attorney offered him and quickly realized the path of destruction he was headed on. Much of it was self created. But I also placed a lot of blame on the character we don’t hear much from - the ex wife. Her presence in this book is a huge negative space but her actions also had profound effects on the plot development that occurred. Manipulating parenting time, restricting it, creating a situation where a father feels his only recourse is to engage in self-help? These are horrible daily realities that exist and it’s tragic because the ultimate victim becomes the child. I can’t excuse what Eric did, I suspect he justified it because he felt he had no other option. But it’s a sad state of affairs to watch something like this unfold and consider the complexity of betrayal his ex must have felt as she learned of his complicated web of lies. Did he deserve what happened to him? Do we ultimately know what will happen to his relationship with his daughter? I won’t comment on that. But the story itself was compelling and thoughtful and worthy of a read.