Kevin Wilson, who is known for his signature wit and irreverent plotlines, whisks readers away on a road trip that would put the “fun” in even the most dysfunctional of families. RUN FOR THE HILLS is the story of half-siblings, a larger-than-life father, and what it means to come from a family tree with a few damaged limbs.

The arrival of a new family member is usually triggered by a joyful event, such as a birth or a wedding. But for 32-year-old Madeline “Mad” Hill, the arrival of her half-brother, Reuben “Rube” Hill, comes not by way of the stork or a wedding ring, but at 11:00 on a Sunday after her and her mother’s farmstand has just run out of eggs. It has been 20 years since her father, Chuck, ran out on them and their farm, and Mad has made her peace with not thinking or talking about him. But Rube tells her that Chuck didn’t just ditch her family; he did the same to Rube’s family 30 years ago.

And that’s not all: Rube isn’t Mad’s only sibling. If this is a scam to seek ownership of the Bon Appetit-acclaimed farm, it’s an elaborate one for sure. But at this point, Mad would almost prefer ending up bankrupt and in the hospital, missing a kidney. It might be preferable to whatever nonsense Rube has in mind.

"RUN FOR THE HILLS possesses all of the trademarks of a Kevin Wilson novel: an eccentric, Wes Craven-esque cast, an absurd plotline, and, of course, tender and thought-provoking musings on family, dysfunction, and the legacies we keep and pass down."

Rube tells Mad that their father wasn’t just a deadbeat; apparently, he was the inventor of his own identities. The Chuck who Mad knew grew up in the Maine countryside, where he learned about chicken farming, leading him to start Knob Hollow Farm in Coalfield, Tennessee. But the Charles who sired Rube was an insurance salesman turned mystery author who hailed from Boston. Unfortunately for Mad, Rube has the paperwork to back it up. Why would her father --- their father --- run out on one family only to arrive in a random rural town that no one has ever heard of to start another? Why is everything about the man --- down to his favorite food and the tunes he enjoyed whistling --- different in each of their tellings?

Rube, a bestselling writer himself, has always been good at rewriting his father’s stories, so he approaches Mad with an offer: hop in his PT Cruiser (as she rolls her eyes into space) and drive across the country to California, where their father now lives. Oh, and drop in on their other half-siblings along the way: Pepper “Pep” Hill, a star shooting guard for a top-ranked college basketball team, raised by coach Chip Hill in Oklahoma; and 11-year-old Theron “Tom” Hill, raised by cameraman Carl Hill in Utah.

As Mad and Rube begin their journey, they start to reckon with the task before them: a fact-finding mission to create an oral history that may explain their dad's actions. It’s a warped “Brady Bunch”-slash-Parent Trap-themed certified Bad Idea. And yet, what does Mad have to lose? Reeling from the recent, tragic death of his mother, Rube has always been told that he doesn’t let people get close, and if genetics have any role in that character flaw, he’d like to know.

But wrapped up in their search for answers is grief and a cringeworthy embarrassment that feels like a stain on both of them. After all, whatever made their father leave, never to think about or contact them again, still resides in each of them. Maybe it’s better to leave it that way, to let the myth of their father live in an ethereal, liminal space. But with that mythos comes an unbearable weight, one that Mad and Rube are done shouldering. And besides, they’re already in the Cruiser.

Pep is less enthused to meet her half-siblings. It’s March 2007, and she’s deep in March Madness games, not to mention significantly younger than the weird strangers who just showed up at her dorm. The duo follows her to Texas, where she suffers a grueling loss, potentially the end of her basketball career, and, like her half-siblings, figures she might as well hop in the Cruiser. A few detours later, Tom joins the group, despite some hesitance from his mother. The Hill siblings are, for the first time, finally united. Now they just have to track down that father of theirs.

RUN FOR THE HILLS possesses all of the trademarks of a Kevin Wilson novel: an eccentric, Wes Craven-esque cast, an absurd plotline, and, of course, tender and thought-provoking musings on family, dysfunction, and the legacies we keep and pass down. The 2007 setting grounds the narrative, explaining why Rube chooses to physically confront each of his siblings rather than, say, send an email. Despite Chuck's prominent billing in the plot, it is his children --- talented, damaged, searching --- who make the book sing.

While it’s not exactly a mystery, readers will delight in connecting the siblings (and their memories of their dad) through their similarities and differences --- how they’re all quite tall but possess few of the same facial features; how they’re all supremely talented, but have seemed to trace their father’s various career paths and interests, prompting them to wonder how much of their lives are theirs and how much has been secretly handed down by him, a curse carried by way of DNA. For Mad in particular, this attempt to imagine the timeline of her father’s life while keeping her own story and identity firmly placed in his nebulous narrative is wildly intimidating, but also strangely universal. After all, who among us hasn’t felt forced to meet or re-meet their family, to find common ground where there seems to be none, or to divorce themselves from their parents’ behaviors or beliefs?

As Wilson proves in this tragicomic novel, we all have to “meet” our family members at some point --- whether they’ve run off to California or live just down the hall. And with that clear-eyed, but also cosmically sad, realization comes true freedom: to live, love and, thanks to Wilson’s weird, wacky wit, laugh about it all.