There’s a point early on in James Gilbert’s "Reunion by the Lake" when Grace, entering the twilight of her life as she and her husband Richard confront his terminal illness, loses her grip of a glass in the kitchen, and it breaks in the sink into long sharp slivers.

The moment is the perfect metaphor for the book’s primary storyline.

“How strange,” Gilbert writes, “that these shards made her think about their incongruous family, this fragmented clan with its sharp personalities, this brittle association that was now about to come back together after how many years.”

Richard, an attorney by trade, and Grace have summoned their three sons for a gathering at their lake house, where Richard is about to spring upon them a surprise that will reshape the rest of their lives.

This sets the stage for a thorough and fascinating dissection of the Collins family, normal by almost any outside barometer but with issues and secrets beneath that exterior. Maybe that’s the real norm — I mean, how many people wouldn’t confess to some level of dysfunctionality in their own families?

Deck, the middle son, sees himself as a member of “such as strange family: so outwardly normal, but inside so fraught with tension and — worst of all — those extended silences of disapproval and looks of disappointment.”

That sums up the Collinses nicely, and Gilbert wields his craft admirably by letting readers sink their teeth into the personalities and phobias of the five primary cast members.

With such a demanding father, it’s easy to see how the three sons have all fallen short of his expectations for them: Deck, successful in business but can’t enter a love relationship; Nick, a cello instructor struggling at a career; and Seth, an adopted son with an unusual lifestyle centered around the religious beliefs of he and his wife.

But it is not so much the appearances of their lives as their emotional baggage that carries the day.

As each son prepares his trip to the lake house, Gilbert takes us inside their heads with their histories, experiences and expectations, all from slightly different angles but with the common thread of seeing their father as an authoritative, strict, demanding, judgmental parent whose ways have already influenced their personas.

While "Reunion by the Lake" has a provocative plot that keeps readers glued, it also offers readers some thoughtful commentary on a lifelong relationship in transition. Gilbert intricately defines both Richard and Grace, shows how their partnership was founded on his career and unwavering personality, and her willingness to support him. Yet now, it is entering what Gilbert calls a “transfer of power,” with Richard’s increased dependency on Grace rather than her merely as an accessory to his objectives. Gilbert blends intelligent writing with keen observations to truly unpack these two characters.

The author even captures the emotions of a man wrestling with death: “nervous impatience waiting for it to happen, wanting to get it over with, or some terrible dread.”

In the end, for better or worse, family is the very definition of who you are. Nick sums it up in these bittersweet words, “The past always grabbed onto you and pulled you back in time, whenever you were together, back to who you had once been and would always be. Family refused to let you change — to become someone different. Damn it, no matter how hard you tried.”

Tough words to swallow. That was the angst for each member of the Collins family as they gathered for their reunion by the lake.

Richard has orchestrated every detail of the reunion. He takes the three boys out on the lake for an apparent “fishing” trip. Even in the middle of the lake, Richard treats every move like he is still in a courtroom. Fishing trip? The patriarch has bigger fish to fry.

Will the results be cleansing or confirming?

Ah, the travails of the family.