Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. Sure, you could read advertising blurbs on Amazon, but wouldn’t you be more likely to believe a neighbor with no skin in the game over a corporation being fed words by publishers? So in this new series, we are sharing these mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpost.com.
“The Deluge,” by Stephen Markley (Simon & Schuster)
This novel in turn frustrated me, held me spellbound, scared the bejeezus out of me and left me in awe. “The Deluge” is set in the very near future and the U.S. is embroiled in the effects of successive and worsening climate-change-caused weather disasters, political extremism, home-grown terrorism, private militias, more senseless mass shootings, government surveillance and overreach, economic swings and anything else you can imagine from scanning today’s headlines. There are multiple plotlines that all seem to intersect at various points, and there are also a few unexpected plot twists along the way. The characters range from the wealthy elite (think hedge-fund owners) to the politically powerful, to charlatans cashing in on everyone’s fear and misery, to scientists trying to convince politicians and the public of the critical nature of the emergencies, to the poor schmucks just trying to string together a living. And the action ranges from L.A. to Wyoming to small-town Kansas and Ohio to rural North Carolina to New York City and Washington, D.C. It seems a tad overwritten in a few spots and the ending is a little too smarmy for my taste, but I didn’t have a more satisfying ending to suggest. Full disclosure: It is a doorstopper of a book, at 800-plus pages in regular print. But well worth the time. — 4 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
“The Secret Garden,” by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Somehow I missed reading this 1911 classic when I was a child. I would have loved the story of orphaned Mary, transplanted from India to England, where she finds her path through nurturing a secret garden. I certainly enjoyed it from an adult perspective. The story is dated, of course, but still oh so relevant, especially Burnett’s thesis about the power of mere thoughts. This book has a slot on banned books lists, due to the racism toward India expressed by young Mary. Fortunately, Mary’s attitudes change over the course of the book. (I wish more of us could claim that.) — 3 stars (out of 4); Neva Gronert, ParkerÂ
“Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders,” by Kathryn Miles (Algonquin Books)
Miles digs into the story of two women who were killed near the Appalachian Trail in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park in 1996, then discovers there are a series of femicides in the region that look to be related. Miles becomes obsessed with linking and eventually solving these crimes. While seeking the truth, she encounters politicians who want to avoid bad publicity for the National Parks System; law-enforcement agents stubbornly clutching onto their confirmation bias and refusing to follow all possible leads; and distraught families of the victims becoming resigned to never learning the truth. The story does not develop in a linear fashion, but rather loops around and around as the author discovers new clues and facts. If you are a true-crime fan, or even an investigative journalist, you’ll like this one. — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
