Wreck

Catherine Newman’s 2025 novel Wreck is a work of domestic fiction that explores a family’s confrontation with both personal and public crises. The narrator, Rocky, finds her life upended when she discovers a mysterious, spreading rash at the same time a fatal train crash kills a former classmate of her son, Jamie. As Rocky navigates the difficult labyrinth of the American healthcare system in search of a diagnosis, she simultaneously investigates the accident, learning about corporate negligence that directly involves her own son. The novel examines themes including The Precariousness of Happiness in the Face of Random Tragedy, The Vulnerability of the Human Body, and The Diffusion of Moral Responsibility in a Corporate World. Appearing on numerous best books of 2025 lists and named a Good Morning America Book Club pick, Wreck, Newman’s sequel to Sandwich, uses humor and emotional depth to explore family life, illness, and grief. 

This guide refers to the 2025 HarperCollins first edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of illness, death, mental illness, substance use, sexual content, cursing, and death by suicide.

Plot Summary

The narrative opens as an owl observes a car and a train heading toward the same crossing in the middle of the night. Rocky, the narrator, is awake with insomnia when she discovers a strange red bump on her arm. Fearing skin cancer after an internet search, she then sees a local headline about a fatal collision between a train and a car.

Rocky secures a last-minute appointment with her dermatologist. Later, in the kitchen with her husband, Nick; their daughter, Willa; and her widowed father, she learns that the victim of the train crash was Miles Zapf, a former high school classmate of her son, Jamie. The family discusses the accident, and Willa is distraught, feeling the death is too close to home. That night, Rocky researches the crash and learns that the train belonged to a freight company called RCX. She then reads online comments suggesting that this was no accident. At her appointment, the dermatologist, Dr. Strange, performs a biopsy on the bump, which he suspects is skin cancer.

While picking tomatoes with Nick, Rocky learns that the train crossing’s barrier arm may have malfunctioned and that the train’s automatic sensors might have failed, suggesting mechanical issues rather than suicide. Nick also notices the rash has spread to her other arm. Rocky begins investigating Miles Zapf’s life online, discovering his involvement in a dance community and finding posts from his mother, Christine, and his grandmother, who blames the train company. Rocky makes an anonymous donation to the family’s crowdfunding page. Soon after, her biopsy results come back, ruling out cancer but diagnosing the rash as “granulomatous dermatitis” (36). Confused by the rash, the doctor orders blood work. At the lab, Rocky sees online that RCX defends its safety record.

Rocky’s blood work reveals an abnormality that suggests an autoimmune disorder, so she is referred to a rheumatologist in Boston. As the Zapf story gains national attention, Rocky recalls stealthily attending the cemetery for Miles’s burial, observing from a distance. Meanwhile, the rheumatologist suspects lupus and prescribes hydroxychloroquine, but she also notes an enlarged lymph node and schedules a biopsy to rule out lymphoma. When the dermatopathologist’s report on her arm biopsy reveals an “unclassified disease process” (98), Rocky is prescribed methotrexate and referred to another specialist, who raises the possibility of sarcoidosis.

Rocky undergoes a lymph node biopsy that is traumatic for her because it is performed by an inexperienced resident. Later, while away with Nick for an awards ceremony, she reads a news article about the consulting firm that RCX hired to advise on cost-cutting measures. Nick reveals the firm is Dickens and confesses that he already knew about this, as their son, Jamie, works there and was working on the RCX account. The next day, Rocky’s lymph node biopsy results are indeterminate, and a spiral CT scan is recommended to check for tumors or disease in her organs. Anxious about the inconclusive results, Rocky is also furious with Nick for keeping Jamie’s involvement a secret, and she wonders if her son values profit over human life. When Willa later reads an article naming Dickens, Rocky confirms Jamie’s role, causing Willa to have a severe panic attack.

Jamie arrives for Thanksgiving, and during a late-night walk, he explains that RCX had already decided on the cost-cutting measures that likely contributed to the crash. Dickens was hired simply to formalize the plan, which acknowledged the risk of death. The next morning, Rocky’s father asks if Dickens also consults for the Federal Railroad Administration, the government oversight agency. Jamie confirms this, and Willa questions the ethics of advising both a company and its regulator. Later, Jamie’s wife, Maya, asks Rocky to be gentle with him, revealing he feels judged and is struggling. While walking together, Rocky reconciles with Jamie and reassures him of her love.

The CT scan finds no tumors but reveals an anomaly in Rocky’s liver. A follow-up MRI suggests she may have primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), a rare, progressive, and untreatable liver disease. A hepatologist gives her a provisional diagnosis of PSC but notes it is a very mild or early case that will require monitoring.

In the weeks that follow, Rocky and Nick participate in polar plunges, and the novel concludes with one such plunge on New Year’s Day. She also attends a contra dance held in Miles’s honor, experiencing a moment of communal joy and grief. Her father announces he is moving back to his New York apartment, and Willa makes plans to move out with a friend, leaving Rocky to face an empty nest. An acupuncturist helps Rocky to come to terms with her health crisis. Jamie reveals that he has a job offer to do philanthropic consulting, signaling a move away from his work at Dickens. In the freezing water, Rocky reflects on her uncertain future, resolving to live in the present and embrace gratitude and love for her family.