Dale Barbara Barbie, a drifter, ex-army, walks with a burden of guilt from the time he spent in Iraq. Working as a short-order cook at Sweetbriar Rose is the closest thing he’s had to a family life. When his old commander, Colonel Cox, calls from outside, Barbie’s burden becomes the town itself.
Jim Rennie, Sr. “Big Jim.” A used car dealer with a fierce smile and no warmth, he’d given his heart to Jesus at age sixteen and had little left for his customers, his neighbors, or his dying wife and deteriorating son. The town’s Second Selectman, he’s used to having things his way. He walks like a man who has spent his life kicking ass.
Joseph McClatchey Scarecrow Joe, a 13-year-old also known as “King of the Geeks” and “Skeletor", a bona fide brain whose backpack bears the legend “FIGHT THE POWERS THAT BE.” He’s smarter than anyone, and proves it in a crisis.
http://www.scarecrowjoe.com/
Julia Shumway The attractive Editor and Publisher of the local town newspaper, The Chester’s Mill Democrat, Julia is self-assured and Republican to the core, but she is drawn to Barbie and discovers, when it matters most, that her most vulnerable moment might be her most liberating.
Horace Greeley Julia Shumway’s beloved old Corgi, a little gray about the muzzle but his eyes still bright and his ears cocked alertly. Always ready for a walk. And always hungry.
Jim Rennie, Jr. “Junior.” A frat boy with something to prove, and what he can’t prove himself he’ll prove using friends like Carter Thibodeau, Melvin Searles and Frank DeLesseps. He suffers headaches that make him feel like one mean motherfucker. He’s one sick motherfucker, too.
Rose Twitchell A childless widow, the motherly proprietor of Sweetbriar Rose, the town’s popular eatery, Rose gave Barbie his job as a short-order cook and is instrumental in quelling the riot at Food City. Her siblings are Andrea Grinnell, the town’s Third Selectman, and Dougie Twitchell, a nurse at Catherine Russell Hospital.
Andy Sanders Owner of the Mill’s pharmacy and the town’s First Selectman, Sanders does what he’s told, especially when Big Jim Rennie is doing the telling, and he’s made a lot of money that way—he’s the Mortimer Snerd dummy that sits on Rennie’s lap.
Col. James O. Cox, U.S. Army Once Barbie’s military superior, Cox is the sort of man you wished were always in charge. Unfortunately, he’s outside the Dome. Cox could cover himself in medals but chooses not to; likewise, he respects protocol but doesn’t let it get in the way of good judgment or effective action.
Eric Everett Rusty, an overworked Physician’s Assistant who carries most of Dr. Ron Haskell’s load at both the Hospital and the Health Center. When he comes home late one night, he’s able to diagnose Jannie’s seizure but can’t decode her outburst: “You have to stop Halloween!”
Andrea Grinnell An overweight, graying version of her younger sister, Rose, Andrea hurt her back some years ago and her daily dose of Oxycontin is up to 400 milligrams, information Big Jim Rennie finds useful when he wants her vote. Turns out she has a core of strength.
Linda Everett Part-time on the police force, qualified to use a sidearm, fulltime mother of two little girls, Judy and Janelle, and wife of hard-working Rusty.
Romeo Burpee Rommie is a hustler with an Elvis pomp and pointed boots with elastic sides. French-Canadian, he survived a childhood of merciless taunts to become the richest man in Chester’s Mill, owner of Burpee’s Department Store. He owns a T-shirt that says, “Kiss me, I’m French.”
Peter Randolph Big Jim Rennie’s man on the Chester’s Mill police force, a fair cop but lazy, and harder than he needs to be. Now in his 40s, Randolph was part of the Bra-Snapping Brigade in high school, a C-minus intellect who got B-minus grades because his father was on the school board.