From Publishers Weekly
No one could blame Julieanne Gillis, beleaguered heroine of this no-holds-barred family drama by Mitchard (The Deep End of the Ocean, etc.) for not seeing the signs. At first her lawyer husband, Leo Steiner, seems to be in the throes of a midlife crisis, informing Julieanne that he is planning to take early retirement and go and live on a commune in upstate New York for six months. The next thing she knows, he's vanished, leaving her with three children and only her meager income from her advice column for the Sheboygan, Wis., local newspaper. To make matters worse, she's diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The narration alternates between plucky Julieanne and her 15-year-old son, Gabe, a handsome Holden Caulfieldesque loner with a mild learning disability. When things get desperate, Gabe and his 14-year-old sister, Caroline, scan their dad's old e-mails and learn where he might be. Then, during spring break, lying like troopers, the two juveniles take off by bus to find their father. Surely, they think, he'll come home when he learns that their mother is sick. He comes, but the baggage he brings along means further disaster. Leo's behavior is almost campishly craven, but the novel's soap-operatic bathos is perversely satisfying. Rousing melodrama; fluid, often funny, dialogue; and the convincing portrayal of children involved in the collapse of a marriage add up to another page-turner from Mitchard. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Look up the word cad in the dictionary, and you should find Leo Steiner's picture beside it. Selfish, shallow, and arrogant, he epitomizes a middle-aged man undergoing a midlife crisis, and deserves a high rank on anyone's list of low-life losers. In Mitchard's latest foray, Leo abandons his 20-year marriage to Julianne, parentage of two teenagers and a toddler, and a lackluster legal career in favor of a utopian existence on a commune with some erstwhile hippies. His departure comes just as Julie is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and the teenagers and toddler all hit the peak of their age brackets' vulnerability. It is how Julie deals with this despicable lout, the dissolution of her marriage, the disruption of her family, and the deterioration of her health that showcases Mitchard at her relationship-defining best. Julie is admirable yet approachable, neither a long-suffering martyr nor a whining, clueless cliche. She copes, she cries, she fusses at her kids, they yell back. The eldest, Gabe, a learning-disabled teen outcast, is both his mother's rock and the novel's heart, his journal entries revealing a preternaturally wise and sensitive young man. An astute observer of family dynamics, Mitchard renders her characters flawlessly, endowing them with a humanity that is both accessibly grounded and astonishingly deep. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Capital Times
"Mitchard’s work...is filled with vivid characters who live out loud, and in vibrant color."

Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
"THE BREAKDOWN LANE takes the reader on a journey of love and loss, self-discovery and synergy, a satisfying story.

Washington Post
"From our petulant, prideful heroine to her sullen-yet-saintly son, each character’s complexities shine..."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"[Mitchard] takes emotional family events and makes something fresh yet familiar about them..."

BookPage
"...An intriguing study of a quintessential American family...[a] thought-provoking, introspective novel."

Associated Press
"[Mitchard’s] tale of an imploding American family will rule the beaches this summer."

Life magazine
"Mitchard dissects feelings of loyalty, betrayal and guilt with such aplomb, the book moves along like a thriller."

Book Description

Where can a woman turn when her own life threatens to overwhelm her ability to keep her children safe? New York Times bestselling author Jacquelyn Mitchard takes the readers of her newest novel on a wry and moving journey of loss and healing.

Giving advice is what Julieanne does for a living -- every Sunday she doles it out to clueless people she doesn't know, in a column in her local Wisconsin paper. But when it comes to her personal life, Julie herself seems to have missed some clues. Having worked creatively to keep her twenty-year marriage to Leo fresh and exciting, she is completely caught off guard when he tells her he needs to go on a "sabbatical" from their life together, leaving Julie and their three children -- Gabe, Caroline, and Aury -- behind. But it soon becomes clear that his leave of absence is meant to be permanent. The succeeding months are filled with a confusion and sadness that shake the core of the entire family. Things take a turn for the worse when Julie is diagnosed with a serious illness and the children undertake a dangerous journey to find Leo -- before it's too late. As the known world sinks precariously from view, the clan must navigate its way through the shoals of love, guilt, and betrayal. Together, with the help of Leo's parents and Julie's best friend, Cathy, they work their way back to solid ground and a new definition of family.

No one illuminates modern love, marriage, and parenting better than Jacquelyn Mitchard. Written with her trademark poignancy, humor, and insight, The Breakdown Lane is her most moving, eloquent, and life-affirming work yet.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Where can a woman turn when her own life threatens to overwhelm her ability to keep her children safe? New York Times bestselling author Jacquelyn Mitchard takes the readers of her newest novel on a wry and moving journey of loss and healing.

Giving advice is what Julieanne does for a living -- every Sunday she doles it out in a column in her local Wisconsin paper. But when it comes to her personal life, Julie herself seems to have missed some clues. Having worked creatively to keep her twenty-year marriage to Leo fresh and exciting and to be a good mother, she is completely caught off guard when he tells her he needs to go on a "sabbatical" from their life together, leaving Julie and their three children behind. But it soon becomes clear that his leave of absence is meant to be permanent. Things take a turn for the worse when Julie is diagnosed with a serious illness and the children undertake a dangerous journey to find Leo -- before it's too late. As the known world sinks precariously from view, the clan must navigate their way through the shoals of love, guilt, and betrayal. Together, with the help of Leo's parents and Julie's best friend, they work their way back to solid ground and a new definition of family.

No one illuminates modern love, marriage, and parenting better than Jacquelyn Mitchard. Written with her trademark poignancy, humor, and insight, The Breakdown Lane is her most moving, eloquent, and life-affirming work yet.

FROM THE CRITICS

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