The Reconstructionist

There is a lot of fine, steely writing here as well as a superbly crafted conclusion that stops the traffic in more ways than one.

Financial Times

The Reconstructionist is a darkly captivating tale of a young engineer who becomes a car crash investigator, driven by the death of his half-brother as a child. His relationship with his boss and his boss' wife leads to complications in a story told with simmering tension. Arvin has a great ear for simple yet effective language.

Big Issue

Arvin's impressive second novel ... is suffused with sharp turns and minute, telling details that add up to a riveting consideration of risk and responsibility.

Publishers Weekly

Car accidents are by far the most commonplace manner of premature death in America, and it's rare to find someone who hasn't been affected by one. It's surprising, then, that so little has been written about it in American fiction ... This has changed with the appearance of a remarkable novel, The Reconstructionist.

The Denver Post

Nick Arvin has written a book with a heart like a vise. The detectives here are engineers, the crimes are traffic accidents, and the law is the law of physics. But somehow - don't ask me how, I was too busy turning the pages - The Reconstructionist becomes a contemplation of the broadest questions of life: How do we love one another? How do we survive the accidents of our lives? Or is it fate? Nick Arvin is an immensely gifted writer, and he has given us a thrilling, soulful book.

David Wroblewski, author of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle