A review by kblincoln
Wide Open by Deborah Coates
5.0
I liked Wide Open so much that I finished it and immediately went and ordered the 2nd in the series, Deep Down.
Wow, in a brusque, stoic way.
From the opening paragraphs, this book pulls you body and soul into the stoic, terse, windblown prairies of South Dakota ranch and farmlands. Hallie, the protagonist, is a non-nonsense, emotionally repressed, angry daughter of a small town rancher. When we meet her she is returning home on sudden leave from her army posting in Afghanistan due to the death of a family member.
She is impatient, judgemental, and cranky-- exactly like the father with whom she can not quite voice their grief. Nor can she discuss her uneasiness over her sister's death. People in town think she may have commited suicide, but once Hallie begins to find out about an new business in town, weather-related, and hears about the strange fires and disappearances of young women, she can't leave old wounds and painful history alone until she can discover the truth about her sister.
Okay, so the habit many characters have of trailing off midsentence or saying purposefully vague things did annoy me about halfway through the book, but other than that tick, this book really pulled me in. The details of weather and rancher life, the layered characters whose ticks and personality all make sense once you've heard backstory, Hallie's gruff, cranky, need-to-do-something if something needs doing personality, and the main mystery of the story (which involves Northern European mythology, and wonderfully took me a while to guess)were solidly written. On top of that you get the repressed emotionality of the ghosts that haunt Hallie-- so perfectly written for the society she lives in. Ever-present, silent, but full of grief.
Hallie's slow melting of resentment and fear into wanting to trust with romantic foil Boyd rang pitch-true.
All in all, this is the kind of "urban" (should we say "prairie?") fantasy I love-- the kind that uses the fantastic to highlight human frailties and courage in our current society and bring emotional catharsis to wounds that depictions of "normal" life may leave undiscovered.
I can't wait to crack open the next in the series.
This Book's Snack Rating: Salt-and-Pepper Kettle chips for the no-nonsense flavor of Hallie's South Dakota world and the satisfying crunch of well-laid plot and fantastic elements
Wow, in a brusque, stoic way.
From the opening paragraphs, this book pulls you body and soul into the stoic, terse, windblown prairies of South Dakota ranch and farmlands. Hallie, the protagonist, is a non-nonsense, emotionally repressed, angry daughter of a small town rancher. When we meet her she is returning home on sudden leave from her army posting in Afghanistan due to the death of a family member.
She is impatient, judgemental, and cranky-- exactly like the father with whom she can not quite voice their grief. Nor can she discuss her uneasiness over her sister's death. People in town think she may have commited suicide, but once Hallie begins to find out about an new business in town, weather-related, and hears about the strange fires and disappearances of young women, she can't leave old wounds and painful history alone until she can discover the truth about her sister.
Okay, so the habit many characters have of trailing off midsentence or saying purposefully vague things did annoy me about halfway through the book, but other than that tick, this book really pulled me in. The details of weather and rancher life, the layered characters whose ticks and personality all make sense once you've heard backstory, Hallie's gruff, cranky, need-to-do-something if something needs doing personality, and the main mystery of the story (which involves Northern European mythology, and wonderfully took me a while to guess)were solidly written. On top of that you get the repressed emotionality of the ghosts that haunt Hallie-- so perfectly written for the society she lives in. Ever-present, silent, but full of grief.
Hallie's slow melting of resentment and fear into wanting to trust with romantic foil Boyd rang pitch-true.
All in all, this is the kind of "urban" (should we say "prairie?") fantasy I love-- the kind that uses the fantastic to highlight human frailties and courage in our current society and bring emotional catharsis to wounds that depictions of "normal" life may leave undiscovered.
I can't wait to crack open the next in the series.
This Book's Snack Rating: Salt-and-Pepper Kettle chips for the no-nonsense flavor of Hallie's South Dakota world and the satisfying crunch of well-laid plot and fantastic elements