New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin (1994)

On a lake deep in Minnesota’s north woods, John and Kathy Wade are trying to reassemble their lives. John, a rising political star, has just suffered a devastating electoral defeat. Kathy attempts to comfort her husband, but soon it becomes apparent that something is horribly wrong between them, that they have hidden too much from each other. Then one day Kathy vanishes. Their boat is gone – did she drown or is she lost? Or did she flee, disappearing into a new life? As a massive search gets under way, the possibilities multiply in terrifying directions. Uncovering the truth requires an investigation of Wade’s life, and gradually we come to see that he is a sorcerer lost inside his own magic, a Houdini capable of escaping everything but the chains of his darkest secret.

New York, NY: Broadway Books (1998)

A combination of Ichabod Crane and Abe Lincoln, Thomas Chippering is living the real American love story. His ex-wife, the faithless Lorna Sue, left him for a suntanned tycoon in Tampa. Chippering’s new prospect, Mrs. Robert Kooshof, is attractive, demanding, and of course already married. And the miniskirted young ladies at the Minnesota college where Chippering teaches? Moody, untrustworthy. But nubile… Through this hilarious, brilliantly inventive swath of characters and locales, Tomcat in Love introduces a completely fresh perspective on the chaotic, self-delusional atmosphere of romance in our time. As Chippering reaches the breaking point and goes for all out, red-blooded revenge, Tim O’Brien tells his most daring, and his most human, tale to date.