Sightings, Dan Montague’s third novel, is a captivating tale about the unceasing mysteries of family love, estrangement and reconciliation with a generous sprinkling of Newfoundland dogs.

At seventy, Sam Langley has settled into retirement, living a predictable, fairly productive and, despite involvement in the lives of his children, lonely life. He had planned to share these years with his wife, Sarah, but she was lost in a plane crash the year before he retired.

In his loneliness, he talks to Sarah, consulting with her when he shops, complaining about their children who seem so dependent on him, and letting her know the day by day progress of getting older. He can hear her answering. She admonishes him not to act old and foolish, and not to become ensnared in the problems of their three grown children.

Sam reads an Email congratulating him on a novel he’s written. When he sees it’s signed Sarah, he panics and hits the delete button, fearing that his imagination is out of his control.

But delete doesn’t end it. A woman who looks like Sarah appears at the town’s Fourth of July celebrations, but she is too far away and Sam can’t track her down. In Sarah’s file cabinet he finds a picture taken at the home of Annie Haas, a friend they had met three years before Sarah's disappearance. Sarah is wearing a robe Sam gave her just before the crash, so he’s sure she’s made at least one visit to Annie’s house he didn’t know about. Sam goes to Annie and finds a friend in whom he can confide, since Annie, too, thinks she may have seen Sarah.

What has happened to Sarah? As Sam and Annie sort fact from coincidence, their friendship grows along with their belief that Sarah is alive and not a product of over active imaginations. Sam’s children are certain he’s being duped by a younger woman and his sightings of their dead mother are signs of advancing senility.

Convinced by the number of coincidental sightings, Sam and Annie continue their search for Sarah, knowing that finding her will limit the love they feel for each other. Gradually they realize that should they find her, her cruel pretense of having died in the crash could well bring more pain and despair to those who thought she loved them.