![]() As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. ![]() After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.Ī tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice-for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Although the setup of Barry’s debut novel is clever and her concluding twist surprises, the plot feels underbaked, and scenes from the point of view of “The Man,” Allison’s nameless, faceless pursuer, prove more tedious than thrilling.īarry makes some keen observations regarding female identity and personal empowerment, but her characters lack verisimilitude, which undercuts the novel’s drama.Īre we not men? We are-well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z (2006).Ī zombie apocalypse is one thing. Allison and Maggie share the narrative, with past and present mysteries unfolding in tandem courtesy of Maggie’s research and Allison’s flashbacks. The deeper Maggie digs, the more strongly she believes that Allison is still alive-and in danger. Maggie and Allison haven’t spoken since Allison’s father died two years ago, so Maggie, a retired librarian, begins researching her daughter’s recent past to determine what else she missed. Back in Allison’s hometown of Owl’s Creek, Maine, her mother, Maggie, is devastated by reports of her daughter’s death and shocked to learn of her engagement. By the time help arrives, the fuselage is ablaze, convincing authorities that both Ben and Allison are dead. Instead of waiting for rescue, Allison scavenges the wreckage for supplies and runs for her life. Thirty-one-year-old Allison Carpenter is en route from Chicago to San Diego when her plane-a single-engine aircraft owned by her fiance, pharmaceutical CEO Ben Gardner-goes down in the Colorado Rockies. A woman survives a plane crash only to be stalked through the wilderness by a ruthless killer while her estranged mother investigates the circumstances surrounding her accident.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |