Just when Sacramento journalist Marty Martinez thinks his life can't get any worse, it does. His beloved son has died of AIDS, his wife has divorced him and joined a cult, and his daughter blames him for the disintegration of their family. Then a chance medical examination reveals that he has prostate cancer. Marty faces his bewildering new role as a cancer patient with awkward grit and desperation. He is a sympathetic, utterly convincing character seeking faith in a Catholic Church as troubled as he is; bringing increased intensity to his career as he investigates a far-reaching political scandal; reuniting his family in unexpected ways; and finding love with a fellow cancer patient. Grace Period is a profound and sometimes hilarious novel about living with serious illness. Marty copes with fear and the painful, sometimes embarrassing, treatment of his disease, but instead of winding down his life he finds fresh purpose and a joyful new love. Haslam brilliantly depicts the complexities of everyday life and the intricate, sometimes tortured bonds of family and friendship. In Grace Period, Haslam shows us that existence at the precarious edge of life offers not only pain and loss but hope, a chance at redemption, love, and even happiness. Grace Period is his masterwork.

"Sacramento journalist and lapsed Catholic, Martin Martinez has seen his once fulfilling life flame out: his son has died of AIDS, his marriage is over, his daughter hates him and his siblings wrote him off after he let their mother die alone. Not to mention, he's diagnosed with prostate cancer shortly after coming a matchstick's distance to self-immolation in his backyard. As urologists and oncologists prod Marty's tender parts and offer conflicting information about treatment, he marries the eminently patient and understanding cancer-survivor physician, Miranda. With her help, Marty accepts that cancer isn't a punishment from God but just a bunch of cells gone wild. He also reconciles with his family, looks again to the church for support and learns the difference between a 'grace period' and a cure. Haslam's (Straight White Male) portrait of the community Marty grew up in rings true, but his didactic prose makes this read like a primer on prostate cancer and a thin treatise on problems facing the Catholic Church, though some will find Marty's story — and his uneasy redemption — inspirational." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)