The "nether world of long-term care" is the underbelly of our technically distinguished but humanistically challenged American health care system and the final stop on the way to dying and death for millions of our most frail and elderly citizens. Each of them has a story to tell, and this novel is a compilation of such stories as related by Rob Angell, a social worker with a deeply troubled past who is advocate and confidante of dozens of patients on the nursing home units of Mercy Meadows, an upscale Charlotte Methodist retirement community. These include Fred Walter, a retired, disabled,...