House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III is a page-turner. The House is the main character. It is fought over and there is no winner. It starts with Kathy having a surprise eviction from the House. She was depressed. Her husband had left her and she was in such a funk that she wasn't opening her mail. So she didn't know the county was going to evict her for non-payment of taxes.
The law officer who evicted her helped her put her things in storage, find a motel, and a lawyer. He becomes very involved with her. They become lovers.
Meanwhile, the house was put up for auction and an Iranian family, the Behrani bought it. They move in with ideas to sell it for a profit and move up to a bigger house. The trouble is, the county made a mistake. They auctioned off the wrong house.
But Mr. Behrani owns it legally and he won't sell it back to the county at the price he bought it because it is worth a lot more than that auction price and he can sell it on the open market at a much higher price.
Poor Kathy is stuck. Her boyfriend, the cop, tries to intimidate the Behrani's. It gets worse and ends tragically. I don't won't to give any spoilers, but the House wins.
I was struck how the author, Andre Dubus III gets inside the skin of his characters. He hits the emotions of a scared, angry, depressed female exactly. Yet, he describes the macho lust of his male characters, also. He is a good writer and this is a good book.
