In typical Marchetta style it took me about 100 pages to really get into the story and to want to keep reading, but in typical Marchetta style I was not disappointed at all! 
 The Piper's Son is a companion novel to Saving Francesca with Thomas Mackee as the main character. It has been five years since we last saw Tom and in that five years his life has exploded. His uncle was killed in a suicide bombing attack, his mom and sister are living in the other side of the country, his dad is an alcoholic who left him and he screwed things up royally with not only all of his friends but with the one girl he has loved for years Tara Finke. The story is told in varying chapters between Tom's life and his aunt Georgie's life in a way that just works. Seeing the two Mackee's at varying points in life both dealing with so much grief is a perfect juxtaposition. They fact that both of these characters are so broken just pulls on your heartstrings through every turn of the page. They both know that things are wrong in their lives and that they aren't in the best of places, but it seems like their happiness is just out of their reach. That is until they let friends and family back in and stop being so alone all the time. With the help of Tara, Frankie, Justine, Ned, Sam, Lucia, Dom and others Tom and Georgie pull themselves out of the black hole they have been living in since Joe's death and find what it is they both needed. 
 Marchetta wrote a very well rounded story of a broken family coming together and I for one am grateful that I got to enjoy it. Now, how about a story about the lovely Jimmy Hailer. Come on, I know you want to. :-)