One person's last fling can be another person's first fling, as Lee Smith shows us in her new novel “Silver Alert” (2023).

Smith's story finds Herb Atlas as a very old man, dying of cancer, taking care of the much younger woman who ideally would be taking care of him. Susan, his wife, has Alzheimer's. He hires Dee Dee, a young woman with a past she's trying to forget, to trim Susan's nails, but Dee Dee's vibrant personality brings the smile back to Susan's face and she gradually takes over more and more of Susan's care.

The past the younger woman is trying to put behind her involves sex trafficking, which she was forced into when she was just 14. With little schooling, no money, a baby on the way and a boyfriend about to abandon her, Dee Dee nevertheless tries to stay optimistic.

Then Herb's family decides it's time to put both him and Susan where they can receive professional care, news the old man does not receive with grace. When he offers Dee Dee a ride home in his old sports car, which he is not supposed to drive anymore, the pair have so much fun that they keep driving, from Key West north toward Disney World, both having the time of their lives ... until the state of Florida puts out an alert for an old man in a canary-yellow Porsche.

In a short, surprisingly potty-mouthed novel, Smith contrasts youth, a time of dreaming of a brighter future, with old age, a time of remembering the brighter past. She demonstrates the two conditions may have more in common than one might think. ( )

I don't know what to say about this book. I wanted to like it - in fact I mostly liked it up until the end when I slammed it on the table. Herb's world is slowly falling down around him. His wife is losing herself in earl onset dementia and in his 80s himself, he is slowly falling apart. His children try to stage an intervention in his beautiful Key West home - but he's unwilling to go to a senior care facility quietly. He reluctantly agrees it's ok for his wife - but damnit - he's not ready to throw in the towel. A parallel storyline follow Dee Dee, a manicurist with a checkered past who loved taking care of Herb's wife. Dee Dee may be young, but she's been around the block a time or two. When her summer fling leads to shocking surprises she finds herself having to look for help in unusual places. Herb and Dee Dee are both running from things and hurtling into each other's orbit. What could possibly happen if the two of them end up on the run together? Witty banter, interesting characters, and an ending I wanted to punch. ( )

Lee Smith has been the queen of Southern fiction for many years and her latest work, Silver Alert, helps her retain her place at the top of a myriad of southern writers. This book is quirky and funny and introduces us to a main character who will remind a lot of people of their father or grandfather or most anyone they know over 80 years old.

Herbert Atlas is an 83 year old man who lives in Florida in a huge house. He's proud of what he's accomplished in life and isn't ready for the changes that are coming at him. His wife, Susan, has Alzheimer's disease and though he diligently takes care of her, she's changed so much that he won't be able to take care of her needs much longer. Plus he is not well despite the fact that he's unwilling to accept that he has health problems too. Renee shows up on one of Susan's bad days to give her a pedicure. Herb refers to Renee in his mind as 'not Renee' because he's sure that isn't her real name. Renee helps Susan relax during the pedicure and Herb is thrilled with her results and asks her to come back. After several trips to the house, Herb and Renee have become friendly and she manages to help him a lot with Susan. When his kids decide to come for lunch one day, he knows that they've planned an intervention. They've decided that he can no longer take care of Susan and they have found a place for her at memory care unit with a room for him that's very close. Even though he doesn't feel ready, he goes along with their plans...until one day when all of the boxes are packed and the furniture moved out, he decides that it's time for one last adventure and he and Renee go for a drive in his Porsche that causes a Silver Alert to be issued.

Renee is an interesting character. Even though she's always cheerful around Herb and Susan, she is living difficult life and has a sordid past. She was sexually trafficked from a young age and even after she escaped from that life, she is still getting into rough situations and is pregnant with a boyfriends baby - a boyfriend ho wants nothing do with a baby.

The two main characters are totally opposite - Herb is old, outspoken, and wants life to continue as it is. Renee is young and fill of life and wants drastic changes in her life. As Herb life is narrowing, Renee's is just opening up. This short and sweet book will make you laugh out loud while it gently reminding you the importance of taking control of your life no matter what age you are. ( )

Silver Alert is set in Key West, Florida, and is the story of Herb, an aging man doing his best to care for his wife, Susan, who suffers from dementia, and a young woman, Renee, who comes into their home as a service provider - a manicurist who is a calming presence for Susan. As Herb struggles with Susan and his own declining health, Renee is struggling to figure out who she is and what she wants after a tragic childhood and youth. The two become friends and soon set off on a short road trip to get away from their problems, triggering the Silver Alert referenced in the title.

This was a quick read, and while it was a little jumpy at first, trying to figure out which character was speaking in each chapter, it soon gelled and became clear. I feel like the two main characters were realistically flawed, and touched on themes that most people could relate to in one way or another. I did feel like the narrative was a bit choppy, and that there wasn't really a story arc until you were well into the book, but it was so short overall that it didn't take too long to get there. There were a few things that didn't really get resolved in the end, so an open ending that some will enjoy filling in on their own, and others might find ambiguous. All in all, an amiable look into another's lives. ( )

I loved Lee Smith and used to really look forward to her novels. But this one felt very slight- or maybe I've just outgrown them. It's a sweet, funny and sometimes sobering novel but if you think about it too much, the holes are glaring - the lack of social media and texting in a contemporary setting, the gaps in Dee Dee's knowledge - would someone who'd been trafficked really be surprised by gay men? and the reliance on easy answers even when confronting hard truths. One thing I do like about Lee is she's not afraid to bring up some very ugly parts of our culture and I suppose this is one way to get the message across- kind of a sugar-coated bitter bill. But it's not for me. Thanks to Library Thing for supplying me with an early reviewers copy. ( )