Hurtling toward the conclusion of Beautiful Ruins

Beautiful Ruins hurtles toward its conclusion as the gang of four heads by plane then van to Sandpoint, Idaho, for the meet-up with Dee/Debra, the long-ago movie aspirant whose life has entangled several of the main characters. Author Jess Walters is a little stymied as to how to handle this scene, with lots of info to convey, so falls back on the overly familiar device of a private detective who, improbably, has assembled a ton of info about D's life over the past 50 years, which he presents to the group in form of a dossier of clips and printouts, which they pass around to one another en route to Sandpoint. A little clumsy and not especially dramatic, as the only "reveal" in this scene is that Pasquale learns for first time that D had married A Bender, the failed novelist who used to stay at his hotel. We pretty much have all the key pieces of her life by this point - the great remaining unknown being what has happened in P's life - he says for first time that he has been married and has children - and of course what will happen when they all see one another again.