And it will be a Beautiful Life: A novel by Craig Lancaster

From Goodreads

Max Wendt has a family . . . but it's sliding sideways, and he has been complicit in its faltering. His wife and his daughter have pulled away from him amid his frequent absences, leaving him to bridge the distance between what he remembers and the way things are now.

Max Wendt has a job . . . but it carries him away from home most of the time, and its dynamics are quickly changing. There's a surprising new hire on his pipeline crew, strife among coworkers, and a boss whose proclivities put everything in peril.

Max Wendt has a friend . . . but this odd man Max meets during his travels perplexes him, prods him, pushes him, and annoys him. He sees something in Max that Max can't see in himself, and he's holding tight to his own pain.

Max Wendt has a problem . . . More than one, in fact, and those problems are flying at him with increasing velocity. Can someone who has spent his life going with the flow arrest his own destructive inertia, rebuild his relationships, and find a better way?

My thoughts

My thanks to TBConFB reviewer group for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

I gave this a 3.5 stars or 7/10.  It was an odd read in many ways and not the easiest of books to review.  However, here is my review of it. 

Max Wendt is a flawed man.  He has a wife, he has a daughter, yet he's never at home due to his work and as a result of this, his family life is suffering in more ways than one.   He has little or no control over what is happening at home.  He is a man drowning in life and the situation that he has found himself in.

Can Max make anything of his life or is he destined like many of us are to amble along on the treadmill that forms our adult existence? 

I found this quite a hard read at times.  There were lengthy passages about his work, that at times I found quite tedious and maybe not necessary to the story.  Yet there was something there that kept me reading as I wanted to find out what ultimately happened to Max and those around him, both his family and his work colleagues.