All Iowa Reads Book Discussion: Distant Sons by Tim Johnston

The Marshalltown Public Library will hold two book discussions on Wednesday, August 6 at 2:00 and 6:00pm of the 2025 All Iowa Reads pick for adults--Distant Sons by Tim Johnston. The discussions will take place in the library's community meeting rooms. Copies of Distant Sons are available to be picked up at the library's Check-Out Desk and online on Bridges/Libby. 

What if Sean Courtland’s old Chevy truck had broken down somewhere else? What if he’d never met Denise Givens, a waitress at a local tavern, and gotten into a bar fight defending her honor? Or offered a ride to Dan Young, another young man like Sean, burdened by secrets and just drifting through the small Wisconsin town? 

Instead, Sean enlists Dan’s help with a construction job in the basement of a local—the elderly, reclusive Marion Devereaux—and gradually the two men come to realize that they’ve washed up in a place haunted by the disappearance of three young boys decades earlier. As Sean and Dan’s friendship deepens, and as Sean gets closer to Denise and her father, they come to the attention of a savvy local detective, Corrine Viegas, who has her own reasons for digging into Dan’s past—and for being unable to resist the pull of the town’s unsolved mystery. And with each chance connection, an irreversible chain of events is set in motion that culminates in shattering violence and the revelation of long-buried truths.

This gripping crime novel is also about friendship, love, and hard work, and about how the most random intersection of lives can have consequences.

Author Tim Johnston will visit the library for a talk and signing on Thursday, October 23 at 6:30pm.